State of Mind
by Chameleon Incognito
Summary: It wasn't bad enough that Naruto was an unloved orphan, hated by all of Konoha. Oh no. He just had to be an omega in a world where omegas were forbidden from becoming shinobi. Omegaverse.
1. The Omega

**…I really don't know where this came from. I hope at least a few people enjoy it.**

 **Rated T: some foul language, a lot of sexual innuendo (but it's pretty hidden, so it won't greatly offend anyone, I don't think).**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor omegaverse.**

By the time they began attending school, most kids knew what their second-nature was. Most kids also had parents. Naruto didn't have either luxury.

It's true, orphanage he spend his childhood in did annual second-gender examinations, but Naruto made sure that he was "missing" every time the doctor visited.

Call him crazy, but he didn't like a stranger shoving their fingers in places that would get them called a pedophile in any other situation.

At the time, he didn't see what was wrong with just stealing his own file and filling out the second gender as "beta". After all, most orphans were betas with the rarer alpha or omega.

Naruto also didn't really care about whatever his second gender was, as long as it wasn't an omega. All he wanted was to become a ninja. As long as he could do that (and eventually become Hokage) he was okay with whatever his second nature ended up being.

But not an omega; they got put into the Okiya and he did _not_ want to go there.

In a world filled with disgusting idiots who couldn't control their primal urges, it was essential to educate young children in sex. Being a shinobi heightened the risk of possible rape or violation. Therefore, It was in everyone's best interest that all children attending the shinobi academy be made aware of the ins-and-outs of alpha/beta/omega dynamics as soon as possible.

It was a difficult and controversial lesson to learn at such a young age, but one that would help them more than hurt them in the long run.

Third year students were the ones to get the official "talk" from a chunin instructor. That year in particular, Iruka happened draw the short straw and found himself explaining mating rituals to a bunch of nine-year-olds.

(He was almost positive that Mizuki somehow cheated in their coin toss. No matter, he would be the bigger person and accept his fate).

"As most of you know," he began, "each of us has a second gender; Alpha, Beta, or Omega." He picked up a piece of chalk and drew the three Greek symbols on the board for a visual:

 **A B Ω**

A few kids who had been dozing off perked their heads up at the change in subject. It was true, everyone knew about second genders aka natures, but they didn't know why their ninja teacher felt the need to bring it up.

An excited chatter permeated the room at the new topic. Never before had they found the topic important enough to discuss with their peers until Iruka brought it up. Unsurprisingly, the pink-haired Haruno girl began arguing with the blond Yamanaka about what nature their "precious Sasuke-kun" was.

The chunin's eyebrow twitched as he yelled for silence. Once the room was quiet, he cleared his throat irritably and continued, "As I was saying, there was three different natures. I myself am a Beta." He taped the "B" for emphasis.

He figured it would be best to start out with the innocent stuff. "Alphas," he tapped the A, "are the most dominant and protective of all natures. Because of this trait, they are often ideal for leading teams. Betas," he tapped the B, "are like the second-in-command. They can be dominant if the situation calls for it-"

A cheeky blond interrupted, "Like when you yell at me?"

A vein visibly throbbed in Iruka's neck. "Naruto," his voice was strained, "please save any questions for after lecture."

He only got a snicker in response.

Iruka spend a few seconds starring down the prankster to insure he wouldn't speak again. He tapped the B a little more harshly than before, "Betas can take on leadership roles when needed, but they are generally most comfortable following orders. Last but not least are omegas," he tapped the Ω. "Omegas are generally submissive to both Alphas and Betas. They almost always avoid any position of command, feeling more comfortable when someone is telling them what to do.

"Of course, we are all a little bit different and are not defined by our natures. It's important not to judge someone's character solely on their second gender.

"As a shinobi, underestimating any opponent any reason could potentially lead to your death. Just because you're an alpha and your opponent is a beta doesn't mean you'd automatically best them in a fair fight."

He paused to let the information sink in when a timid girl with short dark hair, Hyuuga Hinata, raised her hand. "A-ano, Iruka Sensei," she began nervously, "h-how come there aren't any o-omega shinobi?"

"Omegas aren't allowed to be shinobi," Sakura rattled automatically.

Rather than berate her, Iruka agreed. "That's right," she beamed under the praise, "omega are restricted from entering the academy. Likewise, they're forbidden from taking the genin test."

At multiple questions of "why", Iruka signed, and resigned himself to finally getting to the part of the lesson he had been dreading: mating.

Mizuki, knowing where the conversation was heading, held up a crate full of bananas very unhelpfully. Iruka glared at his partner and mouthed, _"I hate you."_

The next hour was the quietest Iruka had ever seen his students. There were no whispers, or note-passing, or any other forms of communication the children usually partook in. The only sign that they were still alive was the growing looks of horror dawning on each and every one of their faces as the lecture progressed and got more...graphic.

Iruka remained as professional as possible, but it wasn't exactly easy when the mere mention of kissing was scandalous to nine-year-olds.

Despite his lecture only being an hour long, it seemed like years before he finally finished with, "...which, to answer your question Hinata, is why Omegas aren't allowed to become shinobi."

The room grew so quiet that one could have heard a mouse turd drop.

After a second of silence, the only thing that could be heard was Mizuki's softly snickering, eating a banana.

 _Mizuki_ , Iruka thought, _sometimes, I hate your freaking guts._

Trying to break the tension, Iruka clapped his hands together and said, "Ohhhhhh-kay, it's a little early but since you've just gotten through a really hard lesson-"

A cough sounded from Mizuki, "and wet", another cough.

"-you guys can go out a little early for lunch."

The students instantly made a beeline for the door, but Iruka knew from personal experience that none of them really planned on eating.

Th other chunin instructor started laughing like his diaphragm was having explosive seizures. "You're going to get _so_ much crap from the civilian parents!"

Turning to his partner Iruka hissed, "I hope you choke on that banana."

The least traumatized of the class was none other than Uzumaki Naruto. The orphanage he lived in was, ironically, located in a hanamachi **[1]** , right next to an Okiya **[2].**

Due to unintentionally listening into conversations he really shouldn't have heard and seeing things he really shouldn't have seen, he learned that any and all omegas put into the orphanage were sold to the Okiya and raised to become geisha **[3]**. That is, if they were pretty enough. If they weren't, they worked there.

Naruto had seen a few of the young omega workers disappear, but he didn't really know where they went.

It was something all the young orphans were semi-aware of, but knew better than to open their fat mouths and ask about it. Only certain individuals with either a lot of connections or money even knew about it. The existence of the hanamachi and Okiya was a very closely guarded secret, one no shinobi knew about in fear that the Hokage get wind of their deal with the orphanage.

Iruka's lecture clarified everything for Naruto. Slowly, he put together a few of the pieces about what he had grown up with seeing and what he had learned that day.

 _Being an omega_ , the unusually pensive blond thought, _really sucks_. _They have to live their whole lives doing nasty things for stupid people...and they don't even get the chance to become ninja because of how they were born! I guess it makes sense why, but that doesn't make it fair..._

All of a sudden, it hit him that he really didn't know for sure what his second nature was. He shrugged it off, figuring since he wasn't submissive or particularly aggressive he must be a beta.

It was the night of Naruto's 10th birthday in which his life took a permanent turn for the worse.

Between the ages of nine and twelve was when one usually presented their second gender, despite there being ways for a doctor to determine said thing long before they presented.

Naruto's birthday just-so-happened to be on the day the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi. A festival was held on that fateful day, one Naruto was never allowed to attend because everyone seemed to hate him for no-good-flipping-reason.

That's when it happened.

The orphanage was completely empty, as well as the whole hanamachi (with the exception of Naruto and few young omega workers in the Okiya).

Naruto was lounging on another kid's bunk, eating their chocolate (he had such an intense craving for it that he couldn't hold himself back when he remembered Yuki's secret stash) and re-reading manga, when he felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach.

He shifted side to side, thinking that maybe he got indigestion from drinking expired milk again. When it got worse, he quickly shoved the manga and chocolate back where he found it and made a beeline for the bathroom.

There was an intense burning sensation down in his unmentionables as a strange liquid substance began to flow from said place.

The boy gasped, falling to the cold bathroom floor. He wanted-he _needed_ -

An intense feeling of shame filled his mind at what his thoughts were turning into. It made him feel gross and disgusting, but God, it hurt. Not to mention burn. It burned a lot.

His thoughts flashed back to the lesson on natures in class. Specifically the parts about an omega in heat.

 _No_...His overwhelming feeling of dread momentarily overpowered everything else.

 _I can't...there's no way that I can be an omega! Omegas aren't exactly common and guys are rare! I-I can't-ahh!_

He curled into a fetal position on the floor, unable to form any more coherent thought.

A few minutes-hours, Naruto didn't know—later, the sound of quick footsteps grew louder and louder. Someone was coming, but he wasn't exactly in any position to get up and run away. Even his condition allowed it, his smell would give away his condition anyway.

"Oh my god," someone said, rushing to his side. It was another omega-Naruto could tell because of her smell.

"Who-" he rasped, but the girl, who couldn't be more than fourteen, shushed him.

"You poor thing," she took him into her arms. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

She carried him out of the orphanage and into the Okiya. Despite his current state and frame of mind, he knew that as a newly discovered omega, that was the very last place he wanted to be. He struggled in her grip and cried, "No, no, no! I don't want to be-I won't-a geisha!"

She tried soothing him, but it was all for naught.

"'M gonna be h'kage! Not a-n-sex toy!"

She had no clue what in the world the poor kid was rattling on about, but she knew better than to upset an omega in it's first heat. "That's right," she said, "you're going to be Hokage."

"Yeah...n'Gesh…"

"No geisha for you."

He grew limp in her arms, and she realized that he fell asleep.

 _Well,_ the girl thought _, that certainly makes things easier_.

She didn't know anything about the boy who had apparently gone into his first heat, other than most elders told her to avoid him. Since he was an orphan, she figured it had something to do with who his parents were. They shouldn't punish a kid for what his death parents did. That's just wrong.

Getting miss-classed was very rare, but it did happen. That was the only reason she could thing of as to why he wasn't already in the Okiya. The kid had very unusual, exotic looks and was male to boot; there was no way such a commodity wouldn't have been snatched by Oka-san **[4]**.

Besides, Oka-san never let a single Omega from the orphanage go, no matter what they looked like.

She burst through the doors of the Okiya, immediately calling attention the other two omega who had stayed behind. "Megumi, Trista," she called out to them, "this is the kid we smelled in the orphanage. Looks like it's his first heat, just as you suspected."

Trista was a slightly older omega in her mid-teens. Oka-san never thought her pretty enough to become a geisha, but kept Trista around anyway. It was most likely due to the fact that she was the epitome of the perfect omega.

 _Attentive,_

Trisha shot the younger girl an ugly scowl. "You actually went to pick up that little freak? What the hell were you thinking?!"

 _sweet,_

"Oh come on," the girl pleaded, "you can't just leave someone alone on their first heat when they don't even know what's going on!"

"Don't pull that kind of bull-shit with me," the elder snarled. "Even if I cared about a little nobody-orphan, I wouldn't just bring them in in to be discovered by Oka-san. You're going to get us all in trouble!"

 _and submissive._

The youngest girl present, Megumi, timidly spoke up, "I think Lyra-chan is right." She was referring to the girl who brought in Naruto. "No one will be back until tomorrow morning, including Oka-san. We might as well help him."

"Help him my ass. The only one we'd be helping is some rich geezer get a new little fuck-buddy."

 _Yes indeed, Trista was the perfect omega..._

 _...when Oka-san was looking_.

Megumi flinched under the other omega's harsh words.

"Ah, Trist," Lyra, the girl holding Naruto, complained, "don't be like that. We can find a way to clear him and his stink out by tomorrow morning. But it's just not fair to leave an omega going through his first heat alone."

Both Megumi and Lyra teamed up to give Trista the unbeatable, invincible, puppy-dog eyes.

Trista looked at the two younger omegas, then at the unconscious boy who reeked of heat-pheromones, and back to the female omegas. Heaving a great big sigh, she gave in. "You two know me too well. Fine, let's bring him back to our room."

-:-

Naruto woke up on the softest bed he'd ever been on in his life. He took a deep breath, immediately smelling something really, really good. He turned on his side, opened his eyes to find a giant white pillow to be the source of the glorious smell.

He hugged it closer, closing his eyes, and letting himself relax a little as he was surrounded by the best scent he had ever smelled. He felt an extremely intense and compelling desire to-

"Woah kid, that's only a pillow. A pillow pumped with alpha pheromones, but still a life-less piece of cloth and cotton. Don't start dry-humping it, or anything like that."

And just like that, his whole body became tense and alert once more. His eyes shot open, and he took in his surroundings.

There were two identical twin beds on either side of him, a night-stands separating each bed. The room was painted a light, calming lavender. There were two sliding screen doors on opposite sides of the room, one most likely leading to the rest of the building, and the other to a bathroom.

Aside from a few decorations and other miscellaneous items strewn around it, the room was mostly bare.

Naruto's eyes flicked to the form sitting at the root of the bed he was in. She had a simple teal dress on and shiny auburn hair pulled back into a sloppy bun. He opened his mouth to ask her who she was and where he was, but all that came out was a dry sounding croak.

"Here," she handed him a glass of water that had been on one of the night-stands. With shaking hands, he grasped the cup and drank as fast as he could.

After it all was gone he set it back down and asked, "Where am I, and who are you?" His voice was raspy, but at least he could speak.

Giving him a wry smile, she said, "My name is Trista, and you're in the Okiya. You've been out for almost an hour. That's pretty lucky, kid."

The sliding screen door to their right slid open, revealing two more female omegas. One was shorter than the other and had dark brown hair, while the taller had light.

"He's awake!" Said the taller one. She rushed to his side and gripped his arm. "My name's Lyra, I'm the one who found you and brought you here. The quiet one's Megumi," she motioned to the dark-haired girl behind her who offered a timid wave, "and you've already met Trista. Boy, it sure is a good thing you decided not to go to the festival..."

The other two nodded along.

Naruto felt really tied and sore. If he was right and he was going through his first heat, then he had a whole week of absolute torture left. "So..am I really..?"

"Yup," Trista popped the "p" at the end, "you've just presented as an alpha's pie. Your dead parents must be so proud."

Lyra swatted the elder's arm irritably. "Trista, you're freaking him out! Can you at least try to be nice for once?"

The two began bickering back and forth as Megami tried to calm them both down. By the looks of it, arguing was a standard for the omegas.

Naruto had stopped crying long ago. He pledged to himself that he was done pitying himself and would become strong. But because being in heat made an omega irrationally emotional, he found that he had tears pouring down his face for the first time in four years.

The other omegas immediately went silent when they noticed the crying boy.

"Hey," Megumi spoke to him for the first time, "it's okay. First heats are pretty tough, but you'll get used to it." She patted his back with a sympathetic expression on her face.

"It's not just that," the blond wailed. "I was going to become a shinobi. I was _going_ to be Hokage!" He threw his hands in the air. "But now, since I'm a _stupid_ omega, I'm not even going to be allowed to go to the academy. It's not fair, and it's all because of my _stupid_ nature."

Though he couldn't stop the flow of tears, he refused to give into sobbing. Instead, he fisted his hands and shook in anger.

Megumi and Lyra both shared a concern glance, but Trista only scoffed. "Yeah? Tough luck, kid. I'm sure there's been a hundred other omegas who weren't even allowed to enter the academy. Be thankful you even got a few years there, you brat."

Lyra was about to reprimand her, but Naruto beat her to it. "Shut up," he glowered at the older girl, "My whole life, everyone's told me that I'll never be good enough to become a ninja. That I was just a giant screw-up. That I'll never amount to anything in my life because I was an idiot orphan nobody that no one loved.

"I was going to prove them all wrong. I was going to become Hokage, so that one day, everyone who ignored me and looked down on me would finally respect me as a person. But now..."

He slumped and stared at his hands, a few tears falling into them. "...I can't even go back to the academy because I'll be sniffed out. No one will ever see me now as anything but a worthless baby machine." His voice grew so quiet that it became hard to pick out what he was even saying.

"I think...I think that's even worst than what they called me before."

He looked so defeated that he might as well be offering himself to the shinigami itself.

Megumi wiped away the tears that had gathered in her eyes. Lyra blinked heavily in an attempt to prevent herself from breaking down right then and there.

Trista only looked infuriated. The boy whose name she didn't even know reminded her far too much of what she had been like. _And now look at me,_ she thought spitefully _, I'm nothing more than a common whore who keeps herself from being sold off by kissing ass._

 _This kid isn't going to turn out like me_.

Raising her hand slowly, she slapped the small boy across the face. It wasn't too hard, but it was enough to result in a loud _smack!_

"You stop it," she commanded. "I know you're in your first heat, but if you want to be a shinobi, you can't let that be an excuse to start bawling like a constipated midget."

"Why constipated midget of all things?"

"Because of how Megumi starts crying whenever she's bloated and can't use the can."

"I do not! And I'm not a midget!"

He ignored their arguing and looked at Trista with shinning blue eyes. "But...how can I do that when I can't go to the academy?"

"Easy." She folded her arms across her chest and gave him a smug look. "They can't turn you away for being an omega if they don't even know you're an omega."

"Huh?"

Both Lyra's and Megumi's eyes grew wide as they realized what their superior was getting at. "Trista-chan," Megumi started, "you can't do that! It's illegal?"

"Wait, what? What's illegal? What are you guys talking about?" Naruto frantically looked back and forth between the two omegas.

"Can it," Trista snapped. "If you haven't noticed, our whole lives are illegal. We work in a glorified whore-house, for god's sake. This is nothing, and it's for a good cause."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?"

"Yes!" Lyra pumped her fist in the air. "Trist, oh man, I really love you right now! I feel like a fairy godmother or something."

"I know I'm awesome."

" _What are you guys talking about?!"_

" _You_ ," Trista pointed to Naruto with a wide smirk on her face, "are going to be a ninja, and I'm going to give you these," she took out a little bottle of pills from her dress pocket and rattled them in his face, "so that you can do it. Together, we're going to show Konoha that orphaned-nobody-omegas aren't useless!"

Naruto would have responded, maybe even have thanked her, but at that moment his heat decided to return from its hour-and-a-half vacation.

-:-

If Naruto had been anything but a well-intentioned orphan who had no one in his life to love him, Iruka would have been thankful for his unexpected week of absence.

But Naruto _was_ a well-intentioned orphan who had no one in his life to love him, so Iruka was worried about his unexpected week of absence.

He knew that because of a certain...house guest...inside of the boy that there was no way he could get sick. Naruto did slack off, but he wanted to become a ninja so badly that he wouldn't ditch for a week strait, or at all.

In Iruka's panicked mind, that only left one option:

Something bad happened to Naruto.

After a weeks' worth of absences, Iruka found himself arguing with a sassy secretary as to why it was of the utmost importance that he had a meeting with the Hokage that instant.

Their argument was interrupted by none other than the Hokage himself. "Let him in, Yasko-chan. If Iruka-san says it's important, than it's important."

The secretary huffed and went back to filing paperwork.

"Now," the Hokage asked once they were alone (with the exception of a couple ANBU), "what seems to be the matter?"

"It's Naruto, Hokage-sama," he got strait to the point. "The last I saw him was in class, the day of his birthday. I'm worried that something has happened to him, due to his special, ah, condition."

He did his best to remain calm and professional, but anyone with eyes could see how upset the chunin was.

To his surprise, the Hokage sat back in his seat and gave him a wide, lazy grin. "Your concern is noted, but unnecessary. Naruto was just here early today, requesting to move into his own apartment. Normally, he wouldn't have been allowed to do so until he became a genin and with that, a legal adult. However, given the apparent...treatment he had been receiving at the orphanage, I thought I could make an exception just this once."

Iruka blinked. His mouth opened and closed, making him look like an empty pez-dispenser. Finally, he found the words, "Are you saying that he missed school because...?"

He left the question open-ended, but even an idiot could see what he was really asking. The smile fell off of Sarutobi's face as he answered with a grave nod, "I'm afraid so. Let's just say that boy really looked like he had been through the ringer when he came to my office."

"Hokage-same," Iruka was back to business, "would it be too intrusive of me to perhaps ask for Naruto's address? I just think that maybe he could use some cheering up right about now."

A smile slip back on the old man's face. Instead of answering, he grabbed a pen and paper, jotting down said address and giving the slip to Iruka.

The chunin bowed and made for the door.

-:-

Naruto had never felt more tired in his life. Going through his first heat had truly been worse than all of the assassination attempts he went through when he was little combined.

To make it even worse, he spend the last week hidden under Megumi's bed with a pillow that smelled like alpha pheromones to keep him somewhat calm. Periodically one of the three girls snuck him food, but he didn't exactly want to eat often.

At night, if he was ever lucid, Trista or Lyra would explain the plan to him:

He would tell the Hokage that he was being abused, (which wasn't untrue)-

 _"Wait, so you're telling me that it's not normal to be locked in a closet for a day without food as punishment?"_

 _"No, Naruto, that's considered child abuse."_

 _"Huh. How about that."_

-ask if he could live in his own apartment (they were seventy-five percent sure the Hokage would say yes), and one of the girls would supply him with suppressants for as long as needed. No one would be none the wiser.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezey.

 _And to think_ , he thought to himself, _that I would have had to go through that four times a year if Trista hadn't given me heat-and-sent suppressers...never before have I been so thankful for a pill!_

Unfortunately, they weren't miracle workers. He had to allow himself at least one heat a year, or else his system would take considerable damage. That meant that in a couple years' time he would have to plan all his missions around one week a year where he would go into heat.

 _But at least I'll be prepared._

His new apartment was tiny with one room, a small bathroom, closet, and a very small cooking area.

The bed was built into the wall, which he pulled down when he needed to sleep. It basically took up the whole room, so he kept it inside the wall most of the time.

The bathroom, which was right next to the closet, was small and simple. A 3-in-one shampoo, conditioner, and body wash with a washrag was in the bathtub that he "borrowed" from his orphanage. He only had two towels, so he had to be sure to keep them off the floor and clean. There was an orange toothbrush and a tube of mint toothpaste resting on the sink.

(Extra toiled paper was stored under the sink).

He had exactly four shirts, two pairs of pants, six pairs of underwear, one set of pajamas, and one pair of sandals. They fit quite nicely in his closet, leaving more than plenty of room. A pair of well-loved bright green goggles rested by his shoes.

Naruto scratched his head when he thought about them _. Where did I get those anyway?_

There was an orange sweatshirt he managed to snag a couple years ago from a donations box, but unfortunately, it was getting a bit too small.

 _I'll need to remember to get another jacket for winter._

The kitchen was downright minuscule. A full-grown adult would find themselves barely even able to stand inside it. On one side there was a stove with an oven, and on the other there was a sink with a mini-fridge next to it. Above the stove, there was two cabinets that could be used to store food and dishes.

Naruto hid his suppressers inside the oven, since he knew that he would never use it and that wasn't exactly where someone would expect the pills to be. (He had to be at least a little cautions; he doubted he'd ever be searched, but he didn't was someone to come in and accidentally find them).

Yes, his apartment was small, but he liked it that way. It was his. He didn't have to share his breathing space with twelve other kids, and he didn't have to fight other kids daily for food.

 _I think I'm just going to go to sleep now_ , he thought, moving towards the lever that he used to pull down his bead _. I know it's early, but since I just got through my first heat, I'll need all the sleep I can get if I want to go to school tomorrow._

He paused in his actions when he heard a knock sounding from the door. Setting his arm back down, he furrowed his eyebrows, wondering who it could be.

Opening the door revealed none other than his shinobi teacher, Iruka. On any other day, Naruto would literally jumped (in surprise, not happiness) at seeing the chunin at his door. But Naruto was still more than wiped out from his heat, so the only thing he could muster was raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Iruka-sensei," he was too tired to be too disrespectful, "what are you doing here? How do you know where I live?"

"Ah, hi Naruto," the beta rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "I was worried when you didn't show up to school for a week strait. I went to Hokage-same to report your absence, to which he said you were ill, and you have just moved here."

Iruka's story was full of holes, but that was due to him not wanted to bring up the abuse Naruto suffered at the orphanage. He didn't have years' worth of experience in dealing with children, but he knew better than to bring up a potentially tabooed topic.

Naruto blinked owlishly at the man.

"I wanted to make sure you were doing okay myself," he clarified.

If anything, that made Naruto even more confused. Forgetting that Iruka had just said he was told Naruto was ill, the boy said, "Yeah, I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?"

"I was told you weren't feeling well."

"Oh."

 _I don't think Hokage-sama told me everything_ , Iruka thought. _It's as if he's completely oblivious to his poor treatment. Maybe it wasn't Naruto himself who had reported it? If not him, than who...?_

His eyes focused back on Naruto's small form. There were dark circles under his large eyes, and his skin looked clammy and almost pale. (That was saying something; Naruto was born with a healthy-bronze-tan skin color. He had never in his life looked pale before).

To top it off, Naruto looked thinner than usual; his cheeks were even slightly sunken in. If that wasn't a red flag, Iruka didn't know what was.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto pulled the chunin out of his own thoughts, "I'm really tired right now and was about to go to sleep. I'll be at school tomorrow, though, s'you can yell at m'then." The last few words got distorted because he yawned.

The blond _did_ look like he was about to fall over. Already, he was swaying where he stood. Not knowing what else to do, Iruka bid the boy farewell, and began walking home.

Iruka had more questions after his conversation with Naruto than he had before. _The boy was obviously not himself; he was way too lethargic and sick looked to have been "just okay". What happened this last week in the orphanage to make him look that way? How exactly was he being abused?_

Despite his curiosity, Iruka knew better than to pry. The last thing he wanted to do was scare the poor kid off with his misplaced questions.

 _I'll just keep an eye on him for now and make sure he's taking care of himself. Tomorrow, I'll offer to take him out for ramen, or something. You can't really go wrong with ramen._

 **[1] Hanamachi, aka "flower towns". This is where the Okiya's are located in.**

 **[2] Okiya: Houses where geishas live.**

 **[3] Geisha: basically, a very-high-class Japanese prostitute.**

 **[4] Oka-san: okay, you guys probably already know this translates to "mother", but the Oka-san basically runs the Okiya and is in charge of all the geishas.**

 **Review prompt: Where do you guys want to see this headed? I've only got a few things planned, such as this will likely be a SasuNaru later on, so I'm open to suggestions.**

 **I appreciate constrictive criticism, but unless I did something to highly offend someone (in which I'd want you to tell me so that I don't do it again) please, no flames.**


	2. The Alpha

**Thank you to all who followed and favored!**

 **...please bear with this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

Uchiha Sasuke had a secret.

Well, it wasn't _his_ secret, per say, but he still had to keep it.

It was the shame of the Uchiha family. A scandal, if you will. It wasn't something that directly affected Sasuke, but he knew that if the secret got out, things would change.

If there was one thing youngest Uchiha knew, it was that he did _not_ like change. He didn't like it when his Aniki was gone on missions. He didn't like it when his mother had to go into town and left him with a relative whose house smelled like stale raisins.

Basically, he didn't like his daily routine being disturbed for any reason.

Mikoto thought it was adorable how particular her younger son was. He was so different from what his older brother had been at his age.

Of course, that was partly due to their natures.

Sasuke was an alpha, whereas Itachi was an…

…omega.

One of Sasuke's earliest memories was of his mother, Mikoto, sitting him down and explaining in the simplest way possible why his aniki was in so much…pain. The conversation went a little like;

Mikoto: Your aniki is what's called an 'omega'. That means that he can have babies. Right now, his body is practicing how to have a baby.

Sasuke: Why?

Mikoto: So that it's ready when he _does_ have a baby.

Sasuke: Why?

Mikoto: Because I said so.

Sasuke: Oh. M'kay.

(He was at that age where he was starting to figure out the wonders of what the word "why" could do for a little guy like him).

Mikoto didn't forget to make sure that Sasuke told _no one_ about what he found out that day. She claimed it was because people treated omegas badly. It wasn't untrue, but also was the full truth as to why no one could know Itachi was an omega, either.

That was the first and last time Sasuke could recall his older brother going into heat for the next few years. At the time, he never thought of it as weird or abnormal because he didn't know any better. He couldn't have; he was far too young to fully understand how second genders worked.

Sasuke and Itachi were close growing up. Such was almost always the case when the older sibling happened to be an omega. Their inner maternal instinct naturally compelled them to have a soft spot for young children. Itachi was no exception.

Likewise, Fugaku was much more attentive to Itachi than he was to Sasuke, something the young alpha picked up on early on.

The Uchiha patriarch didn't coddle his oldest son by any means, but he _was_ fiercely protective of him. Since Sasuke was an alpha, Fugaku adopted the parenting method of remaining both emotionally and physically distant.

If Fugaku caught either Mikoto of Itachi giving Sasuke any form of physical affection, he quickly reprimanded them. It was "detrimental to Sasuke's development."

Both mother and brother thought it was a ridiculous notion, and didn't hesitate to hug the youngest Uchiha when the clan head wasn't looking.

Sasuke didn't yet understand what his father was trying to do; that the only reason Itachi was treated more "favorably" was because he was an omega. He only saw that his brother got far more "praise" and "attention" than he did from their father.

He didn't understand how binding second gender identities were. He figured that Itachi got the attention he did because he was so talented and skilled.

With that line of logic, all Sasuke had to do was be as talented and skilled as Itachi.

But Itachi wasn't a protégé for nothing. No matter how hard Sasuke tried, he couldn't master the same techniques and jutsus Itachi had when he was Sasuke's age. It seemed as though he had to work ten times harder that his older brother to get a fraction of the same progress.

To make matters worse, the more Sasuke tried and failed, the more Fugaku distanced himself. The utter disappointment that radiated form his father was enough to make any kid feel shamed, much less one who was such a perfectionist as Sasuke.

Every time he asked Itachi for help, the older boy only poked him in the forehead and told him, "maybe later".

"Later" never came.

A time went by, Sasuke gradually became more and more distant from his mother and brother. It wasn't anyone's fault; as Sasuke failed to progress at the same rate Itachi did, Fugaku took certain measures to ensure that he was isolated as much as possible. The Uchiha patriarch thought it would help motivate the boy to work harder.

Itachi became consistently "too busy" to spend time with his younger brother, thanks to the immense amount of miscellaneous missions Fugaku always had ready for him. Mikoto was downright not allowed to give Sasuke any emotional or physical comfort.

The young alpha found himself very alone very quickly. It was ironic, how someone could live in a compound that was practically its own little community of family, yet be completely ignored at the same time.

Sure, fellow Uchiha exchanged pleasantries with Sasuke (usually in the form of old ladies telling him how adorable he was), but they didn't really _see_ him as his own person.

It was the same when he started school. Beta females absolutely fawned over him, for the same reason the old ladies did. He was just "so incredibly cute". He once tried to talk to one of them, but the girl hadn't said a word in response, opting to making little noises in the back of her throat and turn completely red.

His male classmates simply didn't like him, and he wasn't one to go out of his way to make friends or socialize. He might have not been a protégé like Itachi, but Sasuke was easily more talented than any of his classmates.

That, combined with his natural anti-social tendencies and popularity amongst the beta females, is what gave him the reputation of being stuck up and unfriendly. Neither was entirely untrue, but his classmate's exclusion of him drove him to be much more arrogant that he initially was.

Like many a child would, to protect himself from loneliness, he convinced himself that he didn't _care._

He didn't care that his brother no longer spent any time with him.

He didn't care that his mother treated him like a stranger in his own home.

And he most certainly didn't care that all his classmates seemed to hate him.

The only thing he cared about was pleasing his father, which was a seemingly impossible task. He would do whatever it took to get on the good side of the man and receive the same treatment Itachi did.

He began to spend all his free time training. Any time between meals or before bed, he spend in the Uchiha training fields, practicing whatever he had learned at the academy that day.

On school days during morning breaks and lunch, Sasuke asked the chunin instructors to teach him more taijutsu instead of playing with the other kids. (Not that he would've spent free time actually being with kids his own age anyway).

Sasuke knew not to ask Iruka. That guy was all about being "fair". In other words, each kid got the same amount of instruction and one-on-one time. Such a concept was foreign to Sasuke.

Instead he went to Mizuki, who was too afraid of getting on the bad side of the Uchiha to ever refuse him.

The more and more he distanced himself from others, the more Sasuke began to go from merely telling himself he didn't care to actually believing that other people were a waste of time. In his mind, training and bettering oneself was a much more practical application of time than being with people was.

That line of thinking tricked his brain into believing that it was his own choice not to associate with others instead of something that was forcefully thrust upon him. After all, not many people simply choose to withdraw from everyone around them at such a young age, unless they had some sort of anti-social disorder (something Sasuke was showing heavy tendencies towards).

By the time Sasuke turned seven, Itachi was an ANBU captain. Already, the boy had tried to talk his teachers into giving him the genin test (without his parents knowledge), but apparently they changed the rules since Itachi graduated. No one could take the genin test until they were twelve years of age.

It angered Sasuke to know that, no matter how hard he worked, he would always be a million steps behind his older brother. There was no way he could be promoted to ANBU captain at the age of thirteen if he couldn't become a measly genin before age twelve.

It was official. Fate hated him.

Lately, he had begun to notice that the atmosphere around his house was always very tense. He rarely ever saw Itachi, and when he did, the omega's muscles were bunched together, like he was constantly paranoid about something.

Fugaku also seemed even more severe than usual. He and Itachi seemed to be at odds, something that had never happened before. After all, Itachi wasn't likely to be rebellious because he was an omega. It was in his genes to be submissive, especially to a high-ranking alpha such as their father.

Itachi always seemed to defy the norm.

Aside from that, Itachi just…wasn't looking good. His skin was paler than usual, and when he moved, there seemed to be just the slightest bit of tremors. If it had been any other seven-year-old, they wouldn't have noticed.

But, even with the distance that had come between the two brothers, Itachi was Sasuke's idol. He knew when his brother was looking to be in less that subpar condition.

His father also began giving him more attention, something that had thrilled the young alpha. He was so happy about it that he didn't even question why.

Fugaku began teaching him the signature clan jutsu: Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

It would be his first elemental jutsu, and his own father was taking time out of his busy schedule just to teach it to him. It was like a dream come true.

He had trouble with it. Any other parent would tell Sasuke to be patient, that no one got their first jutsu right the very first time, even an Uchiha. Fugaku wasn't like the other parents (except for maybe Hyuuga Hiashi. They shared some similarities, but their techniques were a little different).

The man only shook his head at any trouble Sasuke displayed, and walked away.

Sasuke could practically hear him say, _you're not worth my time._

It made him work even harder. He practiced relentlessly for a week, barely even stopping to eat. Never before had he felt as incredibly worthless as he did every time his father bowed his head in disappointment and walked away.

At the end of the week, he finally got it. He ran to find his father, which felt strange, considering he rarely ever sought anyone out.

He showed Fugaku his perfected jutsu. For the first time in Sasuke's memory, his father smiled at him and said, "That's my boy."

Motioning a hand to his youngest, Fugaku said, "Walk with me, Sasuke."

The boy hesitated for a moment, eyes wide. When his father turned to him with a cocked eyebrow, Sasuke shook himself out of his shock and practically ran to older alpha's side.

For a few minutes, the two leisurely walked side by side. The only sounds to be heard were the rustling of leaves overhead, the soft shuffle of their feet on the ground, and the pleasant hum of a busy clan compound. Despite how tense the clan had been, there was still jovial laughter that could be heard.

The Uchiha compound was a relatively sunny place.

Sasuke continued to sneak glances at his father, wondering if he only wanted to go for a walk or if he actually wanted to speak to him.

"Sasuke," abruptly, the man stopped to give the boy a much leveled, meaningful look. "Do you know what sets you apart from Itachi?"

He stilled. An all too familiar feeling of inadequacy and disappointment settled in the pits of his stomach. _This is what he wanted to do,_ the kid thought, _he wanted to tell me that it's not okay how far behind Itachi I am._ Swallowing the lump that began to form in his throat he said, "Is it because Itachi is a protégé?"

He had heard the word tossed around enough with Itachi's name to know it described how incredible his brother was.

"Well," Fugaku was uncharacteristically thoughtful, "That's one thing. But I was referring to something else. I assume you know what an alpha, beta, and omega are, right?"

He nodded. If he had been a certain pink-haired bane of his existence, he would've proudly listed what each one was and their different roles in society. But he wasn't, and Fugaku hadn't asked him for all his knowledge on the subject.

"Good. That makes things easier. You know that Itachi is an omega."

It was more of a statement than a question, but he still looked at Sasuke for confirmation. Sasuke, again, nodded.

"You might not know this yet, but omega aren't supposed to become shinobi. Most don't even have jobs." He sighed, as if greatly troubled (and he probably was). "I knew Itachi wouldn't be weak like most omega. I didn't want him to be treated the same.

"The body and minds of omegas aren't built for combat, much less the shinobi lifestyle. Yes, Itachi has incredible talent, but to be where he is today, he needed special attention and training.

"You on the other hand, are an alpha." He turned from looking at the horizon back to Sasuke; brown eyes met large black ones. "As an alpha, you don't require the same treatment Itachi had. The minds and bodies of alphas' are hard wired for battle. Giving you as much attention and care I bestow on Itachi would be detrimental to your development."

Remembering that he was speaking to a seven year old, he clarified, "That means that too much attention isn't good for you. In order to be the best you can be, you have to find your own way.

"When I was your age, my father gave me the best advice I was ever given. As your father, I will tell you the same: An alpha raises himself. If he does that, he will become truly strong."

That was the first and last full conversation Sasuke ever had with his father.

Everything began falling apart after that. The catalyst for that was when Itachi ended up in the hospital for over-dosing on omega heat-and-scent suppressants, something that could kill, or render infertile, any omega.

Sasuke knew something was wrong when Itachi didn't come home for a whole week, and he wasn't on a mission. He didn't ask where he was, because he knew no one would tell him.

(Last time he had tried being "nosy", his father had took him to the willow tree outback and gave him five good lashes with the switch).

When he did come home, he was in a wheel chair and then confined to bed.

If things weren't tense before, they definitely were after that. The whole clan seemed to know something was very wrong. No one smiled and no one laughed; people barely even talked anymore.

Fugaku rarely was at home. This prompted Mikoto to try to talk to Sasuke more, but the boy, remembering what his father told him, kept his distance and tried to find an excuse to be outside of the compound as much as possible.

He couldn't stand the stifling atmosphere that lingered in the clan like the smell of rotten eggs. He spend most of his time walking by himself, training in unused training grounds _outside_ of the compound, or, when he was too tired to do anything else, sitting on a secluded dock of a lake hardly anyone ever went to.

It was a good place to actually be alone, by himself, without the annoyances that were his fan girls or the grueling expectations his father put on him.

He didn't know why, but he knew that he felt better when he was away from it all. (He also felt lonely, but well, he'd never admit that to himself).

It was one of those days he sat on the dock in which he almost… _felt_ as if someone was staring at him. Sure enough, when he turned around, there was a wild-looking blond boy he recognized from class.

He didn't remember the other's name, but he knew it had something to do with swirls and fish-cakes.

They blinked at each other. Then the blond, for some reason beyond Sasuke, scowled, yelled, " _Teme!"_ and ran off.

 _Teme?_ The Uchiha thought, _what does that even mean?_

He found out the boy's name was Naruto in class when Iruka-sensei yelled at him for a prank. He then remember that the boy was a dead last—a _dobe._

The next time Sasuke caught Naruto staring at him he said to the blond, "Stop staring at me, _dobe."_

That struck a nerve. The other boy huffed, called him a " _teme_ with a duck-butt attacked to his head", and ran off again.

The two started to insult each other not only outside school, but inside it as well. It often resulted in all-out brawls that Sasuke always won, much to the other's chagrin. The alpha didn't know what even possessed the blond to instigate fights with him in the first place, since he always lost.

Sasuke had little to no interaction with others his age, nor did he care to pay enough attention to the others in his class to know what normal friends looked and acted like. What he did know is that his daily fights with Naruto distracted him from everything bad happening in his life.

In that sense, Sasuke actually liked Naruto in a weird, twisted way. He told himself that it was just nice to beat the crap out of another kid his age.

One day, he happened to actually be home (he had written homework due the next day) when his mom was making dinner. His father, once again, wouldn't be able to make it back in time for the meal, so it would just be the two of them (and Itachi; but he still slept most days and was confined to his bed for the foreseeable future).

Their meal was eaten mainly in silence. Mikoto asked the occasional question about school and friends—

 _"Friends?" Sasuke pondered the question. "There're a group of beta girls that follow me around, and there's one boy who likes to fight me. He always loses."_

—but all of Sasuke's answers were short, and to the point.

After dinner, when he was about to excuse himself, Mikoto handed him a hot tray of the meal they had just eaten, and asked him to take it to his brother.

"He's been home for over a week now, and I don't think you've spoken to him once."

He fidgeted where he sat, looking guilty. "I've _seen_ him. And that's because he's always sleeping."

His mother frowned. It was very uncharacteristic of him _not_ to want to see Itachi, especially when he was sick. Itachi never got ill, and the few times he did, she practically had to pry Sasuke away from him so that he didn't end up sick as well.

 _I wonder,_ the beta thought to herself, _did something happen between the two of them? No, Fugaku must have done something._

"If he's sleep, just leave it by his bed. He'll eat it when he wakes up."

The seven-year-old huffed, but his relieved look betrayed how he really felt. "Okay, if you say so."

In all honestly, Sasuke had been very worried about his brother, but Fugaku forbade Sasuke from seeing him. (Sasuke still snuck in the room sometimes when his father wasn't home, but always made sure he did it when Itachi was asleep).

Apparently, Mikoto didn't know what Fugaku said to him. That was okay; he couldn't disobey his mother, and as long as she didn't tell his father about it, everything would be fine.

Itachi was awake in bed, reading a book. He had just turned a page when Sasuke opened the door with back; his hand were occupied with the tray carrying Itachi's food.

When Sasuke saw that his brother was awake, he dropped his head, cheeks aflame, and said, "I'm sorry for barging in, Aniki. I thought you'd be asleep again."

Without taking his eyes off his brother, the omega places his bookmark inside his novel, shut it close, and placed it on his nightstand. "No apology needed." His movements were lethargic but deliberate.

Itachi just kept _staring_ at him. Sasuke moved from foot to foot nervously, feeling like an amoeba under a microscope. "I brought your dinner for you," he broke the silence.

"You can set it on the nightstand."

After he did so, Itachi scooted over in his bed with a wince, and patted the vacant spot beside him. Sasuke hesitated, but ended up climbing on the bed beside Itachi.

The omega put his arm around his brother and held him close to his chest.

Sasuke stiffened; no one had held him like that for at least a year or two. Heck, Fugaku monitored Mikoto too closely to even let her so much as pat him on the back.

 _"An alpha raises himself."_

The words echoed in his head, prompting him to pull away from his brother. _I can't be coddled or I'll never be strong,_ he thought, _and if I don't get strong, father will never acknowledge me._

"What are you doing?" Itachi asked. "I know it's been a while, but you aren't too old for a hug from your _aniki,_ are you?"

Sasuke nodded rigorously. "I'm an alpha," he stated without pride, "so I'm not supposed to hug anyone."

Itachi leaned over and poked Sasuke in the forehead with his index and middle fingers. "Foolish little brother. It's not a sign of weakness to hug your brother, especially if he's a sick omega. Now come over here."

That did the trick. The young alpha nearly tackled the older omega in a feverish attempt to be as close to him as he could.

A low chuckle vibrated Itachi's chest. He stroked Sasuke's hair, "I said a _sick_ omega. Being gentle would be appreciated." His tone was light, but his voice was laced with slightest hint of pain.

Sasuke loosened up a little. "Sorry, aniki." He sniffed, dangerously close to tears. "Are you…are you going to be okay?" He rapidly blinked his eyes.

"Yes, I'll be fine." The omega answered softly. "I need time to heal, but I will be okay. After all, who else will protect you, otouto?"

"Hn," the younger grunted in his brother's shirt, "I can protect myself."

"One day you will," he mused the alpha's hair fondly, "but you're still too young."

"Aniki?"

"Hm?"

"I missed you."

"I missed you too, otouto."

The two silently held each other like they used to when Sasuke was younger.

The young alpha figured it was okay to hug Itachi like that. After all, he was an omega, and Sasuke heard that omegas need physical contact like hugs, and whatnot. There was nothing wrong with hugging Itachi.

Shouting sounded from the kitchen.

The Uchiha patriarch was home.

Itachi's grip tightened on his brother, but Sasuke just grew ridged. He silently sent a prayer to _Kami_ that his father wouldn't come in to the room.

"Fugaku, all I did was ask him to bring Itachi's dinner to—"

"I don't care. He's _knows_ he's not supposed to see Itachi."

The voices were coming closer.

"It's my fault, I didn't know, but please don't—"

There was a loud _smack_ that seemed to ring on forever. They shared a look. Their father had hit their mother.

Sasuke tried to untangle himself from Itachi, but it was too late. Fugaku already opened the door. His long strides carried him over to the bed much more quickly than what would have seemed possible. He grabbed his younger son by the hair, and ripped him off of the bed.

Itachi sat up, startled. "Father—"

"Stay out of this, Itachi," he all but growled at his oldest. His words were slurred—he was drunk. There was no reasoning with a drunk alpha. "You shouldn't indulge that type of behavior. It you need a cuddle thing that bad, go find an alpha to fuck yourself on and have your own kid."

" _Fugaku!"_

He ignored his wife's cry, and continued to drag the seven-year-old out to their back yard by his hair.

Sasuke knew what was coming. Behind the Uchiha head family's house was a weeping willow, grown there for the sole purpose of disciplining naughty children—alphas and betas, that is. It was generally frowned upon to beat any child, much less an omega child.

He threw Sasuke against the trunk of the tree, and coldly told him to take of his shirt and turn around.

"Father," Sasuke protested, tears growing in his eyes, "please, I'm sorry, aniki said it was okay so I didn't think—"

"That's no excuse. You should know better than to listen to a damned omega. Now shut your mouth and _do as I say!"_

With trembling fingers, the boy lifted his shirt off. He shivered as the cool night breeze touched his skin. (At least, he hoped that's what his father thought the shivering was from. If he knew Sasuke was so terrified that he was shaking, he would no doubt give a harsher punishment).

Sasuke heard Fugaku break off one of the slim branches and test it against the ground.

Without warning, Sasuke felt the sharp sting of the switch **[1]** rip the skin of his back. Initial contact never hurt that bad, but only a few seconds after being whipped, it stung more than any pepper spray.

Every time Sasuke cried out, Fugaku screamed that he was a coward, corrupted by his soft omega brother.

He couldn't help crying out—he was only a little kid, and it _hurt._ It was no better than getting a lash from a whip, which would could make any grown alpha cry out in pain.

Sasuke lost count of the lashes after ten; he was growing much too dizzy to keep count of anything. He vaguely heard shouting in the background, but it was distant, like he was underwater.

He thought the edges of his vision was growing black. It was hard to tell since it was already dark out.

He doesn't remember anything after that.

Fugaku forced Sasuke to go to school the next day, despite his injuries. After the previous night, the boy only nodded his head as a response. It seemed to satisfy the elder alpha.

Sasuke doesn't clearly remember what transpired in the next couple of weeks. Something snapped—he knew that. But he wasn't exactly sure as to _what_ snapped, or _why_ it snapped in the first place.

One night when he had been walking home, the same as he did every night, he was intercepted by Itachi. He still had a few blocks to go before he reached the compound, and Itachi had only been back on his feet for five days. He wasn't even cleared to leave the compound.

"Aniki?" Sasuke questioned, confused. "What are you doing outside?"

Itachi didn't answer and instead grabbed his arm, forcibly throwing the boy onto his back.

"Hey!" He protested, "What's going on? Why are we running away from the compound?"

"I can't explain right now," the omega responded shortly, "but it's not safe. It's…being attacked."

"…"

Sasuke's mouth hung open. "If—if it's being attacked, shouldn't you help? How come you're running away?" His demands became more frantic and loud with each word. "Aren't you the strongest shinobi in Konoha?! You could beat _anyone!"_

"I'm not stronger than the law," was the only thing Itachi said. He stubbornly remained silent as Sasuke yelled and screamed, and beat against his back.

He ended up taking him to an underground bunker, where they stayed with their mother and other Uchiha families. There weren't as many alphas as there were omegas and betas, and most everyone present were a part of distant branch families.

The next morning, over half of the whole Uchiha populace was dead, including Uchiha Fugaku.

No matter how many times he asked Mikoto and Itachi what had happened, the only thing they would tell him is that the Uchiha compound was attacked and his father hadn't made it out in time.

They wouldn't tell him who attacked or why they attacked.

Shinobi know the meaning of death much sooner than anyone else. However, it's something else entirely when a person _understands_ death at the tender age of seven.

Mikoto and Itachi both tried to spend as much time as humanly possible with Sasuke, most likely to make up for all the time Fugaku isolated the young alpha.

If it had only been a couple months ago, Sasuke would have grown to appreciate and relish in the attention from his mother and brother. He had been attention starved for the past two years or so.

But his father's final advice to him rang clear in his mind—

- _"An alpha raises himself."_

His dad was dead. He wasn't coming back. Sasuke would never see him again.

The man whose attention and acknowledgment Sasuke craved above all others—even above Itachi's—was gone, never to return.

He didn't know how to feel about it. He was too young and emotionally inexperienced to even begin to sort through the torrent of emotions that ran through him at such break-neck speeds that he couldn't even feel one of them.

It was like trying to touch a single strand of chakra in a swirling _rasengan_ —so impossible that the one who was going to touch it in the first place decided to give up.

He didn't understand it—he didn't understand _any_ of it. He was sad, he was mad, he was disappointed, he was confused, he was—he was everything, yet he was nothing at the same time.

At the funeral, Sasuke found himself crying, and he didn't even know why. _Father wouldn't want me to cry,_ he thought.

But he just couldn't stop.

Standing before his father's grave, he swore to him that he'd make him proud—that he'd be an alpha and _raise himself._

"Father wasn't a bad person."

The young alpha's heart almost leaped out of his chest. There was no need for panic, though. It was only Itachi.

"Itachi-san," he addressed his brother formally once he calmed down, (They were at a grave site, which meant that Sasuke needed to be on his best behavior).

The elder ignored the formal tone of address, and continued on with whatever he was saying. He wouldn't look at Sasuke—only the grave stone. "Father wasn't a bad person," he repeated emotionlessly, "but he had a flawed perspective."

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed together. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It _means_ that father believed in all the wrong things for all the right reasons."

The young alpha only stared at his brother with a blank expression, trying to look like he understood.

 _"_ Let's see," Itachi looked up to the sky, thoughtfully. "Father kept you away from us because he thought it was the best way to raise you. In reality, it has only made you socially inept and disassociated—ah, it's only made you bad with other people and bad with your own emotions."

Itachi's gaze turned to Sasuke's for the first time since their father was murdered. The omega's eyes held so much love and care that Sasuke began to feel a little uncomfortable, unused to such a blatant emotion openly expressed for all to see. "I'm sorry I couldn't do anything about it earlier, that Mother and I couldn't show you how much we love you.

"It's okay to laugh, hug, and cry, even if you're an alpha." He poked Sasuke's forehead and in a lighter tone added, "Just not when you're a shinobi on a mission. Then it's best to remain as emotionless as possible, but all in good time."

He held out his hand for Sasuke to grab. The boy was so confused—he didn't know who or what to believe anymore.

Was Itachi saying their father had been wrong and lied to Sasuke his whole life? Or, had he not lied, but was wrong about everything he ever said to Sasuke?

 _Or is Itachi wrong? After all, he wasn't an alpha like Father and me. He couldn't really know._

Even as he thought it, he knew that couldn't be true—while Itachi didn't tell Sasuke a lot of thing, he had never outright lied to him. Itachi had to be telling the truth.

Not wanting to think anymore, Sasuke grabbed Itachi's hand, and let him lead him out of the graveyard.

"It'll take time," Itachi told him as they walked, "but you'll be okay. I promise."

He squeezed the younger boy's hand and gave him a small, but genuine, smile. In spite of everything, Sasuke couldn't help but smile back. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a real smile on his brother's face.

"So otouto, do you have any friends at the academy?"

"Not really. But there's an annoying blond kid, his name's Naruto, that tries to fight me and always calls me 'teme'."

"…Sasuke, have you tried being nice to this Naruto?"

"No, why would I do that?"

"*sigh* Never mind."

 **[1] A switch is a thin branch, usually from a willow tree, that parents use to beat the kids in the south. It's by no means common, but I've known more than a couple people whose parents favored that method of punishment. Ah, good old south…**

 **PLEASE READ:** **Before anyone flames me about how many holes there are, keep this in mind: this is primarily from Sasuke's POV, and since people don't tell that kid shit and he's only seven, there's a lot missing.**

 **Review Prompt** **: Once again, anything anyone want to see happen in particular? Do you guys want to see Naruto and Sasuke become friends earlier on, or do you want their friendship to be long and drawn out, or what? Seriously, I am open to any suggestions.**

 **Instructive criticism is always appreciated, but please, no hard-core flames. If I made a major error, kindly inform I did so.**


	3. An Omega's Dilemma

**Oh my goodness, fourteen reviews! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! You guys are awesome, truly.**

 **IMPORTANT: Down below are some frequently asked questions I'd thought I'd answer here, since some of you are guests.**

 **Will this be SasuNaru?**

 **I'm pretty darn positive it will be. But no graphic details of lemons. Writing super smutty scenes is uncomfortable for me.**

 **What nature will Gaara be, and will he and Naruto be romantically involved?**

 **Haven't quite decided, but rest assured he won't be an omega. There probably will be at least hints of GaaNaru.**

 **What's the deal with Itachi?**

 **Itachi was kicked out of ANBU and stripped of any shinobi status. He being an omega is now an open secret. He has had heats since the incident, but they've been much more painful for him and they suspect he is infertile.**

 **How do the suppressants work?**

 **Suppressants are illegal and were created illegally, therefore there hasn't been and** ** _real_** **professional work on them. Hence the devastating side-effects. They can only be acquired through black-market means, or if you have the right connections (like Naruto). They don't come in any official containers, so you only get warned about them by word of mouth. They could possibly be injected. You can't get high off of them, they aren't that type of drug. They only affect omegas. If an alpha or beta took them, they might just get sick.**

 **Will alphas have ruts?**

 **Assume they exist, but you may or may not see them happening. Like I said, I'm not too big on getting super explicit. You might see them in a rape-scene down the line or mentioned, though.**

 **Will there be Mpreg?**

 **Possibly. I haven't quite decided yet. There will be guys having miscarriages, though.**

 **Do all ninja villages forbid omegas from being ninja, or is it just leaf?**

 **Omegas are frowned upon from becoming ninja in all hidden villages, but some, like Konoha, are much stricter about it.**

 **Female alphas?**

 **Yes there are. They're not super rare, but they also aren't exactly common. They can't get pregnant, but like all alphas, they can impregnate.**

 **What up with Sasuke?**

 **I'm going to hold off answering much about the massacre or Sasuke himself, but understand this:**

 **Sasuke suffered a different type of abuse than he did in canon. He was forcibly isolated from everyone else at a very important developing stage in his life. That will take a lot of character growth to get through. He's going to act a little more indifferent and be a little less talkative than he is in cannon.**

 **I don't want to give too much away, but I don't really consider anything I said here to be spoilers.**

 **Any more questions, please ask in a review or PM me.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

Naruto couldn't have been happier.

The day in which he'd get assigned his genin team and _really_ become a ninja had finally come.

While he didn't pass the genin test in the most conventional of ways—

 _"You're the Kyuubi, the one responsible for killing your precious Iruka-sensei's parents!"_

 _"But—but I—I didn't—"_

 _"Naruto!"_

 _"Iruka-Sensei!"_

 _"Don't listen to him, Naruto! You aren't the Kyuubi, you're its container! The only thing you are is twelve-year-old Uzumaki Naruto, who I—ah!"_

 _"You bastard! You won't get away with that! Kage Bushin No jutsu!"_

-but all turned out okay. Better than "okay", even! Since Naruto demonstrated that he was able to make a more than a few fully-functional clones, Iruka passed him, and bestowed to him his very own _hitai-ate._

It really didn't matter to him whose team he was on. He only hoped that he wasn't on the _teme's_ team.

Thing was, Naruto had a _slight_ aversion to alphas. In addition to being arrogant and having a nasty sense of entitlement, alphas almost always reeked of pheromones. In other words, the very smell of an alpha gave Naruto the urge to lie at their feet in submission.

This instinct proved to be troublesome once the other alphas in his class hit the beginnings of puberty. For a whole week, Naruto walked around class holding his breath and resisting the urge to curl into a fetal position whenever Kiba or Shikamaru—the first of the alpha's to present—walked by.

Like all omega instincts, he ignored it until it nearly went away. When an alpha was particularly angry he felt trickles of that familiar submissive impulse, but he was far too stubborn to ever give into it.

Once that blew over, he thought he conquered the strongest omega instinct (aside from the urge to mate while in heat, but that was physically impossible to overcome). He _thought_ he'd be okay to beat up any alpha that came along and tried to use their stupid angry-alpha-scent on him.

Then, like the complete bastard he was, the Uchiha had to present his nature, throwing Naruto right back to square one: resisting the desire to show the alpha his belly.

He didn't get it—what was so special about the bastard? Why was _his_ scent so much stronger than the others in their class?

When he brought up the issue to Trista, the older omega said it was probably because Sasuke was a high-ranking alpha. Their pheromones were the hardest to ignore, but not impossible.

Normally, Naruto wasn't one to blame someone for their nature. Doing so would be highly hypocritical. But Sasuke didn't just _smell_ like an asshole—he _was_ an asshole. (And assholes smelled like crap).

Naruto would never forget the day he first met Sasuke. The omega happened to notice that the alpha was always alone, much like himself. When he tried to oh-so-kindly approach the other boy, Sasuke just stared at him.

He didn't just stare. He stared _expectantly._ Like he actually expected Naruto to walk over and talk to him.

Naruto wasn't used to people really looking at him. He found it slightly uncomfortable, and didn't quite know what to do with himself. So, he did the only thing that came to mind:

He called the other boy a bastard, and ran away.

Sure, it probably wasn't the _best_ way to make a first impression, but Naruto was a socially inept seven-year-old.

(You'd think living in an orphanage full of other kids would do wonders for one's social skills. It doesn't. The only skills it enhances is the ones involved in stealing food).

Ever since that moment, Sasuke was especially standoffish, rude, and, most importantly, an asshole. A really smelly one.

 _It's alphas like him,_ Naruto thought angrily as he walked to the academy, _that give their whole nature a bad rep. I'm willing to bet that he's goanna end up raping someone when he's older. Teme…_

The only wish for team assignments he had, the _only one_ , was to be on a different team than Uchiha Sasuke. That wasn't asking too much, was it? So why couldn't the universe be a little kind to him for once and grant his _only team request._

Of course, since the universe hated him and all, it had to go and do the _one thing, ONE THING,_ he specifically asked it _not_ to do.

"Team seven," Iruka announced, sounding a bit worse for wear. Team announcements were one of his least favorite past times, right up there with teaching sex ed. The newly-made genin didn't seem to understand that the Hokage was the one that assigned teams, and Iruka himself didn't have the authority to reassign team members.

"Uzumaki Naruto,"

Said blonde's head perked up at hearing his name.

"Haruno Sakura,"

The pinkette's shoulders visibly deflated while Naruto thought, _she's the top kunoichi! Yes!_

"And," Iruka rushed through the last name quickly, hoping to minimize the amount of damage.

"I'm sorry Sensei," Sakura spoke up, "but who was the last person?"

The chunin suppressed a sigh. This was it. There was no going back. "Uchiha Sasuke."

The beta jumped up and squealed. The omega groaned and let his head fall to the desk with a _crack._ He stayed there.

The alpha's expression became slightly agitated. Well, more so than before.

 _Well,_ Iruka blinked, surprised, _that wasn't that bad at all._

-:-

" _Teme,_ you're not doing it right."

Naruto ripped the petunias out of the Uchiha's hands.

"You can't just put them in the ground like that without breaking the roots first."

The alpha's eyebrows twitched. "Why would I do a stupid thing like that, dobe?"

The blond shook his head at the other boy, and began planting the flowers himself. Sakura chewed her lip nervously. She wasn't a gardening expert, but she had planted enough flowers in her lifetime to know that Sasuke had no idea what he was doing. Naruto, surprisingly, knew exactly what he was doing. She didn't want to admit that Sasuke was wrong, so she kept her mouth shut.

"Breaking the roots helps adapt the plant to a new environment and all," he responded, doing so. He placed it in the ground and shifted the soil to cover the roots. "You can't just plop it in there."

"Hn."

Naruto patted down the soil around the plant, cementing it into the ground. He stood, dusting himself off. Looking at the position of the sun in the sky he said, "It's still pretty early. If we hurry back to Hokage-jiji, we might be able to get another D-rank."

" _Naruto,"_ Sakura complained loudly, "We've been doing d-ranks for seven hours straight! I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend another three hours looking for that _kami-_ forsaken cat."

The blond scratched the back of his head with a disgruntled look on his face and glanced awkwardly to the side. "Well," he began carefully, "I just think the faster we complete these boring D-ranks, the closer we are to finally getting a c-rank."

The beta huffed, indignant. "Sasuke-kun and I want a C-rank just as much as you, but you don't see us trying to break a record for setting the most amount of d-ranks completed in a single day, right Sasuke-kun?" She turned toward the irate alpha to give him a pretty grin.

His lips twitched downwards into a frown. He calculated the predicament he was in:

He _did_ want to go home do something a little more productive (like training) but, he also didn't want to give Sakura the satisfaction of him agreeing with her.

He settled with, "I'm not going to do another D-rank today." It was a safe compromise.

They both turned to the shortest member of team seven, the beta wearing a triumphant smirk with her hands on her hips and the alpha giving him his best black-eyed glare.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at them and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. "Fine." He briskly turned away from them. "I'll see if the old man will give me a mission to complete by myself."

A scoff followed by a mumbled, "Dobe, you can't do a solo D-rank mission as a genin."

"Sasuke-kun's right!" As always, the beta was quick to agree with the apple-of-her eye. "One of the main-purposes of D-ranks is to establish good teamwork amongst a genin. Talking on a mission solo would be counterproductive." A motivational poster couldn't have said it better.

But Naruto was obstinate. "It won't hurt to ask!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, annoyed. "Just go home. Even if you could get a solo d-rank, no one would want a _dobe_ doing their chores for them without anyone there to micromanage."

"That's rich, coming from the _teme_ who doesn't even know how to plant flowers!"

"Mah, what're you three fighting about now?"

The genin jumped at the sudden appearance of the jonin ninja. Once they got over their surprise, they settled back into their defensive positions.

"Naruto thinks he's allowed to take on a D-rank himself," Sakura said in a way that suggested she was "tattling" on her teammate.

Kakashi lazily shifted his gaze to said boy, who was stubbornly looking away. "I just thought that since I have nothing else to do today, it wouldn't hurt to ask…"

"That's true," the jonin responded smoothly, "but your teammates are right. Taking on a mission that's meant to build teamwork by yourself defeats its purpose."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but the older alpha cut him off with a flippant wave of the hand. "You've done four d-ranks today, as you've done every day this week. I don't even think the Hokage _has_ another one to give you. Go home, eat, relax, and no missions tomorrow."

But that was the problem. Naruto _couldn't_ eat (that much) because he was running out of money. And he couldn't relax because his property manager was demanding over twice as much for rent, which he couldn't afford with his meager "salary" and the very small stipend the Hokage gave him (which his property manager always "forgot" to give him).

The amount he got from completing one or two d-ranks a day wasn't cutting it—heck, with the increase in rent, he could do five d-ranks a day and still come out short on cash.

When he asked why the rent had raised so much, the old beta had sneered at him and said, "Times are getting hard. And thanks to you, no one else wants to move into the complex."

The logical course of action would be to move. But because if his _own_ houseguest, no one would rent to him. On the off chance someone did, he'd have to inform the Hokage because of his stipend, which he wanted to avoid. He didn't want to trouble the village leader with such a small problem that was, well, kind of embarrassing.

Plus, if he told the Hokage and moved, the same thing would more than likely happen and thus he'd find himself having to move _again._

He hoped that if he took as many missions as he possibly could, he would magically find a way to come up with the proper finances. As it was, he had to stop going to Ichiraku's and limit himself to two instant-ramen packages per day.

Kakashi-sensei telling him that he couldn't do any missions the next day was the equivalent of a signed grantee that he was going to be homeless before the month was up.

Oblivious to her comrade's strife, Sakura loudly sighed and said, "Thank _kami!_ I don't know if I could put up with another cranky old alpha telling me I'm not pruning his hedges correctly." Even some tension in Sasuke's shoulders appeared to dissipate.

Sakura continued to pointless talk off Sasuke's ear. Meanwhile, Naruto silently went into panic mode. There was just no way possible he could pay his bills.

After they reported their completed mission to the Hokage, Naruto began aimlessly wondering around the streets of Konoha, contemplating what he was going to do. He didn't want to go home yet because it'd only remind him of his situation.

When he finally glanced up to see where he had taken himself, he found that he'd wandered back into the _hanamachi._ The cursed Okiya was right in front of him, unassuming as always.

But he knew the truth. He _saw_ the truth with his own eyes, what omegas were put through. He hated that place with every fiber of his being.

To make matters worse, the week before, Megumi had been sold on the black market. There hadn't been a thing Trista, Lyra, or he could do about it. In fact, the other two hadn't even told him until he asked where she was when Lyra went to give him his monthly pills. (Megumi was usually the one who delivered).

 _Megumi doesn't deserve that,_ he thought, clenching a fist. _She doesn't deserve to live her whole life at the beck and call of some disgusting alpha who bought her._

Yeah. Naruto _really_ didn't like alphas.

 _I'll get you out, Megumi. That's a promise._

"This is a strange place for a young genin to wonder in."

He very slightly jumped. Kakashi had snuck up behind him. With a shiver he thought, _did he follow me here?_

"Kakashi-Sensei," he turned to see the jonin reading his bright orange book, "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find out what you were doing." He didn't take his eyes off his book. "I think we need to talk."

Naruto's blood ran cold. He couldn't have been talking about his little secret. There was no way he could know. "What are you talking about?"

"Not here. Have you eaten yet?"

"Yes."

His stomach growled.

Kakashi's single eye focused on him.

"…no."

"I'll treat you to Ichiraku's."

Naruto no longer questioned the alpha's motives, more than happy to follow the man to his favorite eatery. It had been a couple of weeks since he'd last been to the happiest place on earth, thanks to his lack of funds. No way was he crazy enough to pass up free ramen.

They walked in silence, Naruto bouncing with new-found energy, and Kakashi keeping all his attention on his porn novel giving the occasional inaudible giggle. It wasn't until after they had both sat down at the ramen stand and ordered Kakashi started to speak.

"Naruto," he began before the kid could start stuffing his mouth, "are you by any chance, struggling with money?"

The boy blinked. He tapped his fingers against the counter nervously and looked away. "No, why would you ask that?"

Kakashi blinked slowly, shifting his gaze back to his book. "Oh, no reason. I've just happened to notice that you've become the slightest bit obsessive about d-ranks and collecting your pay."

Naruto stared stubbornly at the countertop, refusing to acknowledge what the older male had said. He didn't want to admit he was most likely going to be thrown out of his apartment—it wasn't the jonin's problem, and it was downright embarrassing.

The look on his face told Kakashi all he needed to know.

A gentle _clunk_ of two bowls being set in front of the ninja brought them out of their rumination. As if someone flipped a switch in his brain, Naruto dove for the steaming pile of noodles and began inhaling them at breakneck speeds.

Kakashi sweat dropped. He momentarily entertained the idea of not paying, what would inevitably be, Naruto's astronomical bill. Once he realized the boy was eating like he hadn't had a proper mean in weeks (which, now that he really looked at Naruto's wiry frame and slightly sunken-in cheeks, he realized that he most likely hadn't) he resigned to the fact that he could dish out a small fortune for the sake of a starving orphan, just that once.

"You know," Kakashi methodically stirring his noodles, "there is no shame in confiding in your Sensei or teammates. There is also no shame in having financial troubles. Most of us have been hard pressed financially at some point in our lives."

Naruto slowed slightly as he stared guiltily at his Sensei, but didn't stop eating. He was too hungry and ramen was too good for him to put down his chopsticks for even a second.

Kakashi's tone grew soft. "Why don't you tell me why you haven't had a decent meal in a while?"

With an expression strongly resembling that of a puppy with his tail between his legs, Naruto hung his head and explained his woeful tale of a bigoted manager.

Kakashi listened intently to his student's story, not even peeking at his little orange book once (very impressive for him). He would be lying if he told someone he didn't feel for the kid. After all, he was pretty pathetic looking, what with his oversized orange track suit, large blue eyes, and sad expression.

 _He looks,_ Kakashi mused, _very much like Kushina-san._

His mind was made. "Naruto, how would you like to move in with me?"

He said it so casually, something that wasn't hard for the seasoned jonin. He knew the implications of having a hyperactive twelve year old, but he was the kid's Sensei. When his own father passed, Minato-sensei had taken on Kakashi. The famed Yellow-Flash would have been a surrogate-father figure if Kakashi had let him become that close.

The least he could do for his deceased sensei was make sure his son didn't end up on the streets.

"Uh, thanks Kakashi, but I rather figure out a way to stay in my apartment."

Naruto prayed his Sensei wouldn't notice his steadily increasing panic. There was no way he could live with an alpha and keep his nature a secret. It would be impossible.

Their evening grew rather awkward after that. Kakashi didn't push him, but it was clear that he intended to later fully convince Naruto to move in with him.

 _Like that'll ever happen,_ Naruto thought as he lied in his bed. _He's one of the better alpha's I've met, but if his porn books are anything to go by, he's no one I'd want to meet in a dark alley at night._

Team Seven went back to a perfectly average number of one or two D-ranks a day. Thankfully, Kakashi viewed Naruto as some homeless, starved kitten (or something like that) and brought him lunch and breakfast every day. If he hadn't, Naruto would've undoubtedly become malnourished (or dead).

Two weeks later, Naruto found all of his belongings removed from his apartment, only to be found lying inconspicuously in a dumpster around the corner. His eyes grew wide as he scrambled to grab his few items of clothing that were all but completely ruined. It was a good thing his default-orange-jumpsuit was currently on his body.

He knew it had been coming, but he'd have liked more notice. He was hoping that he'd somehow find a way to stay, using his famous lucky streak.

No matter how hard he looked in the dumpster, he could not find his suppressers. That meant that the property manager never found them and they were still in the oven.

He set his jaw. He _had_ to get those suppressers.

He set the salvaged cloths in a bundle on the ground, and started climbing the drain pipe in the back on his building. There was a window he could use to get into the apartment. Breaking into one's own (previous) home was child's play to a ninja of any level. To the infamous prankster of Konoha, it was like taking candy from a baby.

Just as he suspected, they were in the oven. Letting out a soft breath of relief, he grabbed the pills and quickly mad his escape out the same window before the old property manager happened to see him.

It would've been easier to pick the newly changed locks in his front door, but he wanted to refrain from any unwanted confrontations as much as possible.

He also didn't want to be seen breaking into his previous home. It was beyond humiliating.

His feet carried him to his favorite park. "Favorite", because the people who went there were typically older shinobi who were smart enough to know the difference between _Naruto_ and the _Kyuubi._

Every so often he received a glance or two, but they weren't heavy with hatred. The one's he received from civilians and stupid shinobi were dripping with it.

Plopping himself of a bench, it hit him.

"I'm homeless."

Not for the first time, Naruto felt at loss.

Where would he sleep?

 _The trees are comfortable enough. They'll work…_

How would he eat?

 _Without having to pay rent or appliances, I can buy one or two cheap meals a day with the money from d-ranks. If that doesn't work I can…hunt? Yeah, I can hunt and gather._

How would he bath? Wash his cloths?

 _There are rivers. It won't be as pleasant as a warm shower, but it's something._

He'd make it work. He'd come too far to be deterred by something as small as being homeless.

"Hello."

Naruto jumped in his seat. A slender man with long, dark hair tied back into a low pony-train and pale skin stood before. He had long eyelashes and rather effeminate features.

Taking a whiff of the other male's scent, Naruto realized why. He was an omega.

The blond forced himself to reply. "Uh, hi?"

The raven-haired omega turned his gaze towards the sky. "Lovely day for a walk, wouldn't you agree?"

He was right. The sun was bright and shining with just the right amount of clouds to help shield the sun's harsh rays. "Yeah, I guess it is pretty nice."

The elder's eyes darted to Naruto. "Mind if I have a seat?" He motioned towards the bench.

Naruto scooted to one side. "Not at all." The simple miracle that a stranger was amicably talking to Naruto was enough to drive away any suspicious. He wasn't in any position to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"What's your name?" He asked after he sat himself down.

Naruto beamed and pointed to his chest. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Ah, so you're Naruto," the omega nodded to himself. "You're on the same team as my younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke."

"You're the _te_ —I mean, you're Sasuke's brother?" Naruto didn't even know he _had_ a brother. Sasuke acted like a spoiled, bratty only-child. He voiced his thoughts, "I thought he didn't have any brothers or sisters."

"My otouto is not the most talkative person." Naruto couldn't decide whether the Uchiha was indirectly saying Sasuke was a prick, or just giving an explanation as to why Naruto knew nothing about Sasuke's personal life.

Probably both.

"No kidding," Naruto snorted, all too characteristically forgetting who he was speaking to. "On a good day, the only thing the _tem—_ um, _Sasuke,_ says is 'hn' which isn't a word or even a real onomatopoeia!" _I just used a really big word!_ Naruto smiled to himself in triumph.

Suddenly, the older omega sighed a sigh that made Naruto think he said something wrong. "I know it may not appear this way, but Sasuke is a very shy person. He doesn't talk to others because he doesn't know how. Please, try to be his friend."

The two blue orbs set inside the junchuuriki's head blinked curiously. Naruto had never thought of Sasuke in that light—only that the mini-alpha thought he was _Kami's_ gift form the great above, or something equally ridiculous and absurd.

"Well," the older omega promptly stood, "I best be going. My mother is expecting me soon."

"Wait!" There was no need for yelling since the Uchiha hadn't even turned to leave, but Naruto did anyway. "What's your name?"

"My name?" He mused. "That's interesting. Most don't think to ask for an omega's name."

Naruto's cheeks flushed when he realized his social blunder.

A quiet laugh sounded from the Uchiha, "That's alright. You're a beta, so you wouldn't have known. My name is Uchiha Itachi."

He left.

For a moment, Naruto contemplated what the elder had told him about his number-one-turd-of-a-teammate, Sasuke. _Maybe the teme is just constipated with all his feelings and junk, and doesn't know how to make friends._

The thought made him feel just the tiniest, microscopic twinge of guilt.

"Yeah _right!"_ Naruto laughed out loud. _Poor Itachi's probably been fooled by Sasuke, just like all of the female beta's from my graduating class._

-:-

The memorial stone was a good stone.

It was smooth, rounded, and cool to the touch. No matter how long it stood in the sun, it would never become hot. Almost as if it was not just a metaphorical representation of the lives taken in action, but a literal one too.

After all, warmth flees from a corpse in more ways than one.

It was the reason Kakashi felt like he was truly visiting his deceased loved ones whenever he stood before the stone. It didn't just honor them—it held their memory and purpose. It _was_ them.

At least, that's what he told himself on a particularly broody day. One better ones, he used the more light-hearted delusion that Obito lived within him because of the eye.

Either way, it was something that helped carry the burden.

It was on one of the better days in which Itachi approached Kakashi for the first time in five years. The young man had definitely grown and matured since his ANBU days fighting alongside Kakashi. Yet, that wasn't the first thing the alpha noticed about his estranged friend. It was the _smell_ that he noticed first.

The smell coming from Itachi was the sweet, flowery scent of an omega. Sure, he'd already heard about the giant Uchiha scandal, shortly followed by the massacre, but he'd never actually seen Itachi since that mission. Hearing was a lot different than seeing—or in this case, smelling.

"Itachi," he easily hid his surprise, "it's been a while. What brings you here?" He knew better than to ask what an omega was doing by themselves around an alpha. He may be an omega, but anyone with half a brain knew that former ANBU captain Itachi was more than capable of handling himself.

"I was passing by and thought I'd catch up with an old colleague."

Bull.

"Besides," he continued, "you're now my otouto's Sensei. I wanted to know how he's been doing."

Kakashi sighed the sigh of one who knew far too much for their age. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't the slightest bit worried about him. He isolates himself from his teammates, only working with them if there is no other option. That aside, he's very talented and is on his way to becoming a fine shinobi."

"He'll come around." Itachi sounded sure of himself. "He just needs a little time and the proper encouragement."

Kakashi smiled in amusement, never taking his visible eye off of the memorial rock. "You make him sound like an abused pet. I suppose you're right," he went on before Itachi could make a retort of any kind. "His teammates are good for him. They force him to interact with them and partake in missions."

"That's certainly a relief. By the way, I ran into an Uzumaki Naruto today. I thought you should know that he's homeless, if you didn't already."

"…what?"

"I best be going. Goodbye, Kakashi-sempai."

-:-

And that's how Naruto found himself being forced to move in with his Sensei.

In any other universe, say, one where Naruto _wasn't_ an omega, Naruto would have been trilled. No one beside Megumi, Lyra and Trista has ever given two craps about his well-being. Kakashi wasn't just giving him two craps—he was going _share his apartment_ with him.

But the moment Kakashi finds out his secret, his ninja career is dead before it's even started.

 _Trista says if I don't allow myself at least one heat a year, the suppressors could kill me…so that's out of the option. I'll just have to make sure I have somewhere to be during the heats._

Kakashi's apartment was very tidy with few personal belongings. It had two bedrooms, one of which was unused, separated by a living room slash kitchen area. It wasn't anything glamorous, just the standard jonin living quarters. To Naruto, who had lived in the smallest type of apartment physically possible of living in, it was a McMansion.

On one hand, the "enormous" size felt like a relief. It felt like he could finally _breathe_. On the other, it felt like wearing a shoe that was too big. Uncomfortable, because it didn't fit right.

Whatever the opposite of claustrophobia was, Naruto felt like he had it.

He would do what he did best. Adapt, not think too hard about future complications, and plan as he went along.

 _Trista and Lyra might also be able to help when my heat comes,_ he thought. After all, planning was _not_ his fort.

On a better note, Kakashi finally decided that they were ready for their first c-rank mission. They would be the first of the rookie-nine to go on a c-rank, meaning they were entitled to gloating once they got back from mentioned mission.

Of course, Sakura and Naruto would be the one's doing all the gloating. Sakura to Ino—the two friend/enemies were constantly trying to one-up each other. Their trivial and unnecessary competition centered generally on boys (*cough* Sasuke *cough*), but expanded to other subjects like academia and missions.

Naruto would only gloat to Kiba, possible Shikamaru and Choji. His gloating would be much less malicious than Sakura's, for obvious reasons.

Sasuke didn't brag. He didn't need to. Other's just looked at him and knew they were inferior. ( _Yeah right,_ thought Naruto with a grimace, _my butt crack is a better ninja than his entire being_ ).

For once, he remembered to pack everything Kakashi told them to; extra kunai, shuriken, ninja wire, ration bars, etc. It helped that Sakura went over the packing list over _ten times_ because "Naruto will not screw this up for Sasuke-kun and me!" or something absurd like that.

On the day they departed with Tazuna the bridge builder to escort him back to wave, Naruto nearly forgot the one item he'd literally be completely screwed over to forget: his suppressants.

They were about to depart when he realized he left them back at the apartment, under his mattress. (Yeah, probably not the most creative hiding place, but they're scentless so Kakashi shouldn't suspect a thing).

" _Naruutooo,"_ Sakura loudly complained giving the blond a "light" punch, "this is why I went over the list with you _multiple times!"_ She scoffed, annoyed. It turns out Sasuke was rubbing off on her (she wished). "Well, I packed extra kunai, shuriken and ration bars in case you forgot which you _did."_

"Sakura-chan," the blond rubbed the sore spot she struck, "you have so little faith it _hurts!"_ He moaned and feigned a heart-attack.

"It you two are done," Tazuna grunted irritably, "the sooner we leave, the better."

"Okay, I'll be right back and—"

"Sakura said she had extra supplies," Kakashi supplied very unhelpfully, "and Tazuna-san is on more or less of a time limit."

"It's not like that!" Naruto thought fast. "It's my…canteen! Yeah, I forgot my canteen at home!"

"I brought an extra," Sakura huffed, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Well, I….forgot to water my plants! I have to make sure they've been properly watered, or they'll be dead when we get back!"

Sasuke grunted in mock-amusement.

"Don't worry," it was Kakashi this time, "I remember, you watered them this morning."

"I forgot to grab an extra pair of underwear!"

Kotetsu and Izumo, the two chunin who recorded the comings and goings of Konoha citizens, shinobi and visitors, thought they'd be of some use.

"I always carry a spare pair of briefs in case of accidents!" Izumo hollered over.

"Idiot, that sounds so wrong!" Kotetsu smacked his friend on the shoulder.

Naruto shuddered at the thought of barrowing a random chunin's underwear.

Naruto swore he saw steam coming from Sakura's ears. "Naruto, stop messing around or I'm going to get _mad!"_

"Why'd I have to get saddled with such brats?" Tazuna took a swing of sake out of his flask.

"Enough," Sasuke's voice wasn't loud, but his tone was hard enough to get the point across. Sasuke wasn't one to waste words—he was so adverse to any form of socializing that he rarely ever spoke unless prompted to do so. (Or unless he was so incredibly frustrated that he felt the need to intervene). "The dobe is just being stupid again—"

" _Oi!_ I'm right here!"

"—and its making us late. So let's go."

Without another word, Sasuke roughly grabbed the white collar of Naruto's orange jacket, forcefully dragging the kicking and screaming omega out the gate.

" _Teme,_ you better let go of me or I'm going to kick your ass!"

"I'm sure."

"I'm serious!"

"I know."

" _Shut up!"_

"Hn."

Sakura visibly sighed in relief, glad that "Sasuke-kun" decided to step in and handle the situation for himself.

Unfazed by it all, Kakashi lazily turned to the slightly drunken bridge builder and said, "Are you ready to go?"

Tazuna blinked at the antics of the three genin before looking back at the jonin. He was more that grateful that he had to forethought to get himself buzzed before starting the trek back to Wave. "I guess so."

As he walked out the gate he couldn't help but think, _these are_ kids. _What am I doing?_

-:-

Itachi watched team seven leave Konoha with a smile on his face. He would've seen his brother off in person, but the stubborn, young alpha had refused. Itachi wasn't insulted. He understood that it would be uncomfortable for Sasuke if he was seen off by his older omega brother.

It was a little ridiculous, considering Sasuke didn't care much at all for being socially correct. Still, the boy was an alpha and valued his pride.

He had a good feeling about Sasuke's teammate. Kakashi was right; his teammates were good for him. Especially that Naruto. Itachi hadn't seen his otouto that talkative in years!

 **Review Prompt: Do you want Itachi or Sakura to have a love interest? If so, who? Or, what do you eat for breakfast on a normal day?**

 **Thanks for reading, and don't forget to follow, favorite, and review! (:**


	4. A Conflicted Alpha

**Thank you to** ** _everyone_** **who reviewed, followed, and favored! A lot of you had great suggestions that I will seriously consider! (Keep them coming, I like suggestions). A few (most) of you kind of predicted how this chapter was going to go, but not entirely… ;)**

 **To answer a couple questions:**

 **What is homosexuality?**

 **So, basically, a female beta is able to mate with an alpha, and a male beta is able to mate with an omega. They just aren't very compatible, because they often can't fulfill each other's needs, and it's hard to conceive. (Not impossible, obviously, since Sasuke and Itachi exist). Any other paring (two omegas, two alphas, a female beta and an omega or a male beta and an alpha) would be this universe's version of homosexual, because they can't produce offspring. You "aren't supposed" to be sexually attracted to someone you can't have kids with, after all. (That being said, omegas and alphas really shouldn't be attracted to betas because of smell—but betas don't have a sense of smell, so it's much more normal for them to be attracted to an alpha or omega. Therefore, from a beta's point of view, it wouldn't be homosexual for a female beta to be attracted to a male omega, or a male beta attracted to a female alpha—society just view it that way. Complicated, I know, but it's just what makes sense).**

 **Itachi and Sakura?**

 **Haven't decided if they'll be paired with someone or who they would be paired with, so keep suggestions coming! I often like what the people like.**

 **Disclaimer: nuff said.**

Sasuke didn't know what Naruto's problem was.

First, the idiot makes a show out of forgetting nothing. Then, once Sasuke managed to get him out the gates, Naruto acted like Sasuke dragged him to the Shinigami's house warming party.

What was his deal? Sure, Sasuke knew that his teammate was nothing more than false bravo and idiocy wrapped in an ugly blend of orange and yellow, but his current behavior went beyond that. One thing Sasuke thought Naruto _wasn't_ was a coward. And yet, there was no other way to describe his behavior.

It was only a c-rank. Chances of combat were slim. Injury? Even slimmer. There was no reason for someone as stupid and brash as _Naruto_ to act so uneasy.

An annoying suspicion that something else was bothering his teammate nagged at the back of his mind.

 _Whatever,_ Sasuke shoved the thought out of his head. _It's not my problem if the dobe wants to work himself up over nothing._

It wasn't until two chunin-level ninja jumped out of a conspicuous puddle that Sasuke knew he wasn't on an ordinary c-rank. He cursed himself for not recognizing how out of place that puddle was before those chunin attacked.

He was supposed to better than that. Aside from Kakashi, he was the alpha of team seven. There was usually only one alpha per genin team for a reason. Alphas naturally took charge, while betas were content to be their subordinates. (Most of the time). This set up helped genin learn how to function in a squad.

 _Now Sasuke,_ a voice that sounded like Itachi chided in Sasuke's mind, _it's true that alphas typically make the best leaders. However, that doesn't mean they're the best at everything, nor does anyone expect them to be._

The voice was right. Itachi was the best and brightest shinobi Konoha had seen in generations, yet he was an omega. Skill and intellect had nothing to do with nature.

"Tazuna," Kakashi addressed the bridge builder after the attack, "mind telling us why two chunin-level nin were after you?"

That's when the man fessed up. He told the Konoha shinobi about the state of his people, the purpose of the bridge, and what a businessman named "Gato" had to do with it all. His reasons for with the information he did were understandable, but that didn't change the fact that it was illegal to lie about the danger risk of a mission when requesting the aid of ninja.

It's illegal because you just _might_ get saddled with shinobi who aren't up to the task. Like three genin fresh out of the academy on their first c-rank.

 _This is just terrific,_ Sasuke thought sarcastically.

"While I'm very sorry about your village, there is nothing I can do." As always, Kakashi was very professional. There wasn't a hint of emotion on his face. (Not that masking one's emotions is particularly hard when he had nearly his entire face covered). "You lied about the mission parameters. My students are just genin. They are nowhere near being ready to fight missing-nin."

Before the bridge builder could respond, Naruto impulsively jumped to his feet and proclaimed, "We can't abandon him! When we took this mission, we swore we'd protect Tazuna with our lives! We can't just go back on our word!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his teammate's dramatics. _I guess nothing's wrong with him after all._

"Naruto's right!"

The Uchiha quirked an eyebrow, mildly surprised. _Oh? Sakura's actually agreeing with him? That's interesting._

The beta swallowed nervously, obviously uncomfortable with the sudden attention. "I just think that it wouldn't be fair to leave Tazuna-san when we can help him."

All at once, Sasuke found three-and-a-half pairs of eyes staring at him expectantly. The green pair was nervous, sickeningly eager to please and afraid of conflict. The blue pair was hard and challenging, just _daring_ him to disagree. The brown pair was half pleading, half wary, since he didn't want to get his hopes up.

The last was not a pair, but a single eye. It regarded him interest and, unlike the other eyes, it didn't pressure him to form an opinion. Rather, it benignly observing what he would do.

"Well, Sasuke?" Kakashi drawled. "What do you think we should do?"

He _was_ the alpha of his team. It was only logical that he be the one to decide their course of action. Sakura and Naruto seemed to really want to help Tazuna-san, but Kakashi was right—they were out of their element.

The answer was obvious. "We should help Tazuna-san."

A breath of relief escaped Sakura's mouth. She was terrified Sasuke would think her a fool.

Naruto pumped his fist in the air with a grin. " _Yes!_ I knew there had to be at least some sort of human being in you, teme!"

The Uchiha only scoffed irritably and took a bite of his rations bar. Naruto couldn't have been more wrong. The real reason he had agreed was not out of peer pressure, nor out of the goodness of his heart. It was because Kakashi had insinuated that he wouldn't be able to handle it.

He was an _Uchiha alpha._ He'd be damned if he couldn't handle it.

 _Ah-ah, you foolish alpha,_ the Itachi-sounding conscience whispered, _remember me? I'm not an alpha, am I? And no one would have even questioned my involvement in an S-ranked mission when I was your age…_

Sasuke swallowed down the bite of the ration bar. He both loved and loathed his brother.

Tent assignments were as expected. Sakura and Tazuna both got their own tents, while Sasuke had to share with Naruto.

Naruto cried in protest when he heard. "Why can't I share a tent with Sakura-chan?!"

Sakura's face screwed up in distaste. "Because I'm a _girl_ and you're a _boy!"_

"So?!"

"We're both betas!"

"Oh. Right."

"You're so perverted!"

"No I'm not! I just don't want to share a tent with that bastard!"

Naruto jutted his thumb in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke, for his part, glared back. _The feeling's mutual._

"Naruto, I know you and Sasuke don't particularly get along, but you're going to have learn to share a tent with him." Kakashi was aloof as always, but it was clear he didn't want to deal with any more arguing.

The blonde's lips formed a pout as his foot found a stray rock to kick. He mumbled something incoherently under his breath that Sasuke didn't care to make out.

In the tent, Naruto stayed as far away from Sasuke as he possibly could, acting just as jittery as he did when they departed Konoha.

The next morning, Sasuke awoke to the smell of something very strange.

It was a smell he had never smelled before. His groggy senses couldn't quite make out. As soon as the scent fully reached his nose, he instantly sprang upright and sprinted out of the tent.

There was the sound of a page turn. "Ah, good morning Sasuke."

Sasuke only coughed in response. Dear _Kami,_ what was the putrid scent?! "Kakashi…sensei…" he managed to choke out, "what is that _smell?"_

Another turn of a page. "The strong one coming from your tent? I believe Naruto provoked a skunk last night during his watch and got himself sprayed. It would be best to stay away from him for the next few days."

His eye twitched. _Of all the stupid, moronic,_ idiotic _things that imbecile has done…_

"Good _morning~"_

… _getting himself sprayed by a stupid skunk is… "_ The stupidest thing you could _possibly do!"_

Naruto blinked at his enraged tent-mate. "Uh, come again?"

" _Fire style: Grand Fireball jutsu!"_

The skunk-sprayed genin barely had enough time to dive to his right in order to avoid the red inferno hurtling towards him. " _Ah!"_ he yelped, "Sasuke-teme, what the _hell?!"_

But Sasuke was incensed. "I am _not_ traveling with a skunk-scented _dobe!"_

"It's not _my_ fault I was sprayed!" Naruto stood and gave the alpha a glare. "It was like, a ninja skunk! It snuck up on me, and before I knew it, I got a face full of its butt!"

"What's all the—dear Kami, kid, did you bathe in vomit or something?" All the fighting had roused Tazuna. The poor man had a death grip on his nose. Sasuke wouldn't be surprised if he accidently ripped it off. Tazuna eyed the blond with disgust.

"Naruto got sprayed by a skunk on his watch last night." Sasuke was starting to think Kakashi was enjoying the situation.

When Sakura finally woke from her beauty sleep, she looked like she wanted to hurl Naruto. But with her hands otherwise occupied with holding her nose, and the fact that no one wanted to be anywhere near the blond in his current state, she resigned herself to shooting him nasty looks.

Surprisingly, Naruto didn't seem put out by the negative attention. Usually he would he in the back of the group, sulking. That wasn't the case. On the contrary, he seemed quite pleased with himself.

That led Sasuke to believe that the _dobe_ had gotten himself sprayed on purpose just to spite them all. Why he thought getting himself sprayed by a skunk was a good way to spite them, Sasuke didn't know.

The day only got worse from there on out. A missing nin named Zabuza, aka Demon of the Mist, attempted to assassinate Tazuna. He smelled like a beta, but he could have just been an alpha using scent suppressants. Missing nins almost always masked their scent.

It was a very good thing team seven were the ones to receive the mission to wave and not some other genin team. Kakashi was the strongest of the rookie nine jonin senseis. Even so, Zabuza proved to be a challenge for the infamous copy-cat nin. Any other jonin sensei wouldn't have stood a chance.

Kakashi's copy-cat techniques made Sasuke more than a little suspicious. The eye that he kept covered was a sharingan—a dojutsu that was exclusive to the Uchiha clan.

How did a _Hatake_ get his hands on one?

It was obvious the eye was an implant. His uncovered eye was completely normal, and there was a scar that stretched from his eye brow down to his cheek bone, over the sharingan eye. That meant his sharingan couldn't be explained by some sort of blood relation to the Uchiha.

Ultimately, Zabuza was "killed" by a young tracker nin from mist and Kakashi collapsed from chakra exhaustion.

That made Sasuke anxious. Not because his Sensei had been injured, he knew the jonin was fine, but because he couldn't ask why Kakashi, a Hatake, was in possession of the sharingan.

Sakura was the most perturbed by the turn of events. For once, Sasuke found her fretfulness perfectly logical. They were genin, fresh out of the academy, and already faced an A-class missing nin. If this Gato person was desperate enough to hire the infamous "Demon of the Mist" to try and stop Tazuna from building the bridge, what other lengths would he go to?

The threat of death they had been warned about their whole lives had never before seemed so imminent.

Tazuna's home was small and quaint.

He had a daughter named Tsunami and a young grandson named Inari. Tsunami was pleasant, but Inari was a bit annoying. He constantly sulked and pitied himself. Of course, his behavior was understandable; his father figure had just died due to Gato's men, and his whole country was slowly starving to death.

Sasuke could relate a little. His father, along with many of his clan, had also been murdered.

 _At least Inari knows how his pseudo father died,_ Sasuke found himself thinking bitterly. _I don't even know who killed my real family. Both mother and aniki tell me it was probably a hate crime, but there's just too many holes in that…Father wouldn't have fallen to some petty hate crime. He was too strong. The_ Uchiha _were too strong._

Mikoto and Itachi alike claimed the Uchiha massacre was, aside from guesswork, as much a mystery to them as it was to him. Though he was inclined to believe his family, sometimes Sasuke wondered. If they truly had no clue who had done it and _why,_ then why didn't they look for answers?

Didn't his mother care that her own husband, along with many other of her loved ones, was murdered in cold blood? Didn't Itachi demand justice, just as Sasuke himself did?

 _"Let the dead sleep,"_ The omega had told his younger sibling upon being pestered. _"Nothing we do can will bring father back. Justice will come—you just have to be patient."_

Sasuke was sick of being patient. He wanted answers. He, as the only alpha in his family, had a right to know what happened that night.

"Shut up."

Sasuke found himself pulled out of his dark thoughts by Naruto's husky voice. It took him a moment to realize the blond wasn't addressing him, but Inari.

"You don't have a right to be angry. All you do is mope about and pity yourself. It makes me _sick."_

Sakura could be seen chewing on the corner of her lip nervously. The scene Naruto was making was unnerving her. Of course it would; she was a proper girl, and despised displeasing her hosts. "Naruto," she said anxiously, "he's only eight. Just leave—"

But the smelly blond abruptly stood, cutting her off in mid-sentence. (Tsunami took it upon herself to light a _lot_ of scented candles). He stormed outside before anyone else had the chance to reprimand him.

The words were aimed at Inari, but Sasuke couldn't help but think that, in some sick twisted way, Naruto's mini-rant was meant for him.

"I'm so sorry about Naruto!" Sakura promptly started kissing the butt of their hosts. "I don't know what's gotten into him. Sasuke and I will be sure to remind him to be respectful, right Sasuke-kun?"

But Sasuke was lost in his own world, thinking about his own problems. That, and he already learned to tune out the annoying pink-haired beta whenever she decided to speak.

Naruto was actually _right_ for once. It was time that he finally take matters into his own hands. Once he got home, he would corner Itachi and demand the answers that he has been denied for the past five years. He wouldn't let Itachi or Mikoto blow him off any longer.

For the first time in years, Sasuke slept soundly.

The next day, Kakashi thought it was time to finally begin training his genin. (Lazy jonin…) Luckily, Naruto no longer smelled like the wrong end of a skunk, making him much more tolerable to work with. Their sensei taught them a useful chakra control exercise called tree walking. (Pretty self-explanatory).

Sakura, surprisingly, immediately picked it up. Sasuke was a bit put out that the seemingly useless beta had mastered the technique before him. Nonetheless, it served as a motivator that helped him to focus his energy into learning the exercise as quickly as he could.

He swore that, before the end of the day, he would master the technique.

And do it better than Sakura.

Naruto, for all his goofy-ness, seemed just as determined as Sasuke. The blond was just a lot louder about it.

"Just watch teme," the "beta" had proudly declared, "I'll master tree walking in _half_ the time it'll take you to!"

Normally, Sasuke refrained from responding and encouraging such childish rebukes. He had been taught better than to feed into attention-whores. But something about Naruto just… _irked_ Sasuke. He knew he had nothing to prove to the blond—their academy rankings and spars were more than enough to attest to Sasuke's superiority.

Yet, that didn't stop Sasuke from feeling the need to stoop to the dobe's level and participate in his ridiculous one-sided rivalry. Naruto was the equivalent to an annoying, stubborn tick whose head remained buried in your skin no matter how many times you ripped its body off.

 _Maybe that's what a friend is._

So instead of ignoring the blonde's taunts, Sasuke sent him a smug smirk. "You wish, dobe."

Oh, how Fugaku would have rebuked Sasuke's indulgence in the deluded competition. The thought made the feeling of shame rip through his body. He should stop and find another tree, far away from Naruto. He needed to isolate himself so that he could truly focus.

 _It's okay to allow yourself to have fun,_ Sasuke's Itachi-sounding conscience spoke up once more. _There isn't anything wrong with enjoying a light-hearted rivalry with your teammate._

The painful knots in his gut loosened up some. _Yes,_ he reassured himself, _I'm still training, so there isn't anything wrong with having…fun…while I do it._

Another voice, vaguely reminiscent to his father, whispered that Itachi was an omega, so what was good for Itachi wasn't necessarily good for Sasuke, an alpha.

That voice used to be a lot louder and surer of itself. As the years went by, the voice grew ever fainter, and became only an echo of what it used to be. Meanwhile, Itachi's voice and teachings began to grow stronger.

Still, the voice reminiscent of father had been there first, and had firmly rooted itself among Sasuke's core beliefs. It would never completely disappear, no matter how much Itachi's voice began to override it.

An hour or so after Kakashi and Sakura left, things began to get weird.

Sasuke had just gotten a good three-fourths up the tree without falling, his highest yet. He allowed himself to don a satisfied smirk (but never smile—he wouldn't allow himself to lose that much composure) and turned to see just how far Naruto was.

He looked just in time to see the blond in question do something rather stupid. Naruto's grip on his kunai was faulty for some reason. (If Sasuke didn't know him any better, he'd say the "beta" was actually tired. But that was impossible, the idiot was too stupid to feel rational things like fatigue). The kunai slipped out of his hand, falling and impaling his stomach.

Since there was no intended force behind it, the kunai would have left nothing more than a scratch. Sasuke hadn't expected Naruto to even acknowledge it.

Sasuke also didn't expect Naruto's body to evaporate in a small cloud of smoke at being hit with the kunai.

The kunai fell to the ground by itself, no orange-clad ninja in sight.

He blinked at the lonesome kunai, too stunned for words. He knew that Naruto had mastery over the Kage Bushin (thanks to his abnormally large chakra reserves), but he didn't know a clone could be kept "alive" for so long, or take so many hits.

What was perhaps the biggest blow was that Sasuke hadn't even noticed. Had Naruto been nothing more than a shadow clone that whole time? He frowned at the thought. _That's not possible. The dobe has large chakra reserves, but they can't be_ that _large. Even if he did manage to sustain a clone for that long, how come it didn't dispel when it fell?_

That left only one other option. Somewhere down the line, Naruto must have performed a substitution jutsu without Sasuke noticing. _Also highly unlikely. I definitely would have noticed that, since I was making sure Naruto's marks never surpassed mine. He's not secretive either, so it would be very out of character if he suddenly decided that he wanted some alone time, without sensei or I knowing._

He looked around himself for any sighs of the blond, but didn't spot any. Despite himself, a small sense of worry settled itself at the bottom of Sasuke's stomach. He didn't like the feeling—it was uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

 _It's probably nothing,_ he though. _Naruto probably just needed to go to the bathroom, and didn't want me to think he was giving up._ He snorted. Yes, that was _exactly_ something Naruto would do. _I better go find him, though. It's getting dark, and by now the dobe's probably lost. Typical._

Since there were no signs of where Naruto could've gone, Sasuke chose a direction away from Tazuna's home and began running in search of his teammate. Sure, he was tired from the exercise, but running never exerted him too much. The sooner he found Naruto, the better.

It didn't take long before the scent of an unfamiliar omega penetrated his nose. It took him a bit off guard. Omegas didn't generally travel alone, much less alone in the _woods just before nightfall_. He'd be lying if he said it didn't merit his curiosity.

Don't get him wrong; Sasuke wasn't a crazy alpha who felt the need to mate every omega he smelled. Those alphas were less common than most thought, and that behavior was generally frowned upon. (At least it was in Konoha). Shinobi were _supposed_ to be in complete control of themselves. Along with that, all alpha shinobi were _supposed_ to be able to control themselves if an enticing omega happen to come within range.

The key word in that sentence: _supposed._ Kami knew there were always those that manage to slip through the cracks.

The Uchiha prided themselves on control. Alphas who lost control were shunned by the family and regarded as weak. Sasuke was also a little too young (and too sexually uninterested) to feel desire at the scent of an omega. Combine the two, and there was no conflict of interest.

That being said, it was nothing more than curiosity that drew him a little closer to wherever the omega scent was coming from. It was a good smell—sweet, like flowers or a nectarine.

It was only when he decided to listen to old proverbs ( _Curiosity killed the chameleon!),_ and look for Naruto once more when he spotted bright orange in the direction of the omega scent. Confused, he vaguely wondered what in the world Naruto was doing with an omega.

He crept closer to the blond, not even thinking of alerting his teammate of his presence. Naruto was definitely alone. In fact, the scent seemed to be coming directly from _him._

 _Why does Naruto smell like an omega?_ The scent was far too strong and fresh to be anything that rubbed off on the supposed beta. No explanation Sasuke's brain came up with could make any sense of what he was seeing and smelling.

There was only one thing left to do.

"Naruto."

The other genin jumped, wildly spinning around to face his teammate. "What the hell! Where do you get off sneaking up on your own teammates?!"

Sasuke didn't respond to the insult. His eyes were narrowed at his teammate, which he know knew to be the sole source of the honeyed scent. "Naruto, why do you smell like an omega?" He believed that a direct and blunt approach was the only way to handle the situation. (Of course he was wrong, but he didn't know that).

The beta's—beta? omega? what?!— _boy's_ eyes widened to the point where they seemed to take up over half of his face. His mouth fell a few centimeters, gaping open. (He resembled a goldfish, what with his orange jump suite, open mouth and big eyes). When Naruto's gaze fell to his hands and a curse tumbled out of his mouth, the situation began to make horrible, _horrible_ sense.

"You're an _omega."_ His black eyes bore into Naruto's blue ones. It wasn't a question, but an accusation.

"It's not what it looks like—"

Sasuke cut him off, "It's exactly what it looks like."

The young alpha wasn't a "genius" like their former Nara classmate, nor did have a mind as sharp as his female teammate. Even so, he wasn't stupid. He was actually quite smart, and could put three and eight together when it suited him.

The sight was scarily familiar to him. What Naruto held in his hand was six identical white pills, just like the ones Itachi used to take. Unpleasant memories of Itachi, sick and bedridden, flashed back in his mind. Everything made sickening sense.

In a fit of anger, Sasuke snatched the pills from Naruto before the blond could even register that the other had moved. "Oi, _teme—"_

"Do you _know_ what these could do to you?" Sasuke's voice was quiet, but his tone was as cold as ice.

Naruto, once more that night, was stunned into silence.

But it wasn't a rhetorical question. Sasuke's voice rose, just the slightest, in volume. "Do you _know_ the risks of taking these things?!"

Finally snapping out of his shock, Naruto narrowed his eyes and Sasuke. His fists clenched and he all but growled, "I know _exactly_ what I'm doing. Now give them back, _teme!"_ He made a desperate grab out at Sasuke's hands, but it was no use. Sasuke was simply faster, and Naruto wasn't the type to analyze a given situation and rationally think of a solution.

Sasuke easily dodged all attempts Naruto made to get back his pills with silence. The alpha's apparent impassiveness only served to further irritate the blond. For several minutes, the two danced back and forth, exchanging clever banter, such as:

"Give it back!"

"No."

"I'm serious!"

"So am I."

" _Sasuke stop it!"_

"Hn. No."

Once the give-and-take became too ridiculous to bear, Naruto let out a noise that was somewhere between a cry of frustration and a growl.

"What. Is. Your. _PROBLEM!"_ The blond yelled staring his teammate right in the eye. He had a wild look in his eyes that was almost disturbing. If Sasuke didn't know any better, he would have thought that there were hues of red appearing in his teammate's eyes.

Before he had too much time to ponder Naruto's facial expression, the omega continued, "Aren't you too good to be concerned with someone else's problems, Mr. Protégé Uchiha?" Unlike Naruto's previous taunts, which were said out of heated anger, this one was said maliciously. "This isn't any of your business, so just give me back my damn pills and forget you saw anything."

Sasuke's face contorted into a deep frown. The viciousness in the other boy's tone took him back. He had expected the other to be angry (like he always was, when it came to Sasuke), but he hadn't expected the outright malice. "I know enough to know that these are illegal, and rightly so. Taking these over an extended period of time can leave you unfertile, or kill you."

"You're an idiot," Naruto rolled his eyes. "That's only if you don't take them the right way." His eyes narrowed in on the Uchiha, "But I wouldn't expect an _alpha_ to know that."

 _But I wouldn't expect an_ alpha _to know that._

Alpha.

The word stung Sasuke as if he was being physically branded. Never before had the nature he'd been so proud of ever been used against him. "It doesn't matter if I'm an _alpha_ or not." A lump rose in his throat. He wasn't expecting such a strong reaction from finding out that his teammate took the same poison that all but crippled his brother.

He could still remember the night that marked the steadily decline on the Uchiha family. His father had gotten a message from Falcon, one of Itachi's ANBU teammates, saying that his son was in the hospital. Fugaku left immediately. Mikoto quickly followed with Sasuke in tow.

They left him in the waiting room, giving him the excuse that Itachi was very tired and needed his rest. Sasuke wasn't stupid—he knew something was very wrong. So, he snuck into his brother's hospital room while Fugaku argued loudly with a doctor and Mikoto stoically stood at his side, hands trembling, not looking anywhere in particular.

Sasuke saw Itachi at that moment. The omega had a long tube inserted in his arm (IV drip). He was so thin. His skin was so pale it looked grey. An insect-like mask covered the bottom half of his face—Sasuke later learned was to help him breath.

It was the most horrific thing the seven-year-old had ever seen. His strong, infallible aniki was reduced to nothing more than an invalid. Itachi was the strongest person he knew. What happened to him? What had put him in such a feeble state?

When blood began to seep quickly from underneath Itachi's hospital gown, Sasuke couldn't help himself from crying out in both distress and fear.

The room was instantly filled with adults in white and blue—the medics.

Everything else that night was a blur. He couldn't even remember if he'd been punished or not for going into Itachi's hospital room that night.

After that, Itachi wasn't allowed to be a ninja anymore. He wasn't allowed to do much of anything. The omega damaged his body beyond repair—not just from the pills, but from continuing to push his body past his limits once the suppressants truly began to affect him.

"— _suke,_ you're really freaking me out!"

The images of Itachi on death's doorstep were replaced by the "weirded-out" face of his teammate. "It's nothing," Sasuke blinked harshly. He looked at the hand that held the pills—it was fisted so tightly that he could feel his fingernails digging into his palm.

Those pills—those tiny, white, harmless looking orbs, were what ultimately injured his brother far greater than any other ninja did. They were what nearly took his brother away from him, and Naruto had the _gall_ to tell him he didn't understand. That he was an _idiot alpha._

Naruto gave him a look that stated he clearly didn't believe him but didn't care enough to pry the truth out of him. "Yeah, whatever. You've got issues. Now, _give me back my pills!"_

"You know what? _Fine,"_ Sasuke hissed. He thrusted the innocent looking capsules back into the eager hands of the omega. "If you want to kill yourself, be my guest. It's not like you can hide it forever, and even if you could, your own stupidity would get you killed first. Whichever way, I'll get a better replacement teammate."

He couldn't remember the last time he said so much in a single breath, much less to someone he really had no care for.

As he walked back to Tazuna's house, he tried to tell himself that he really _didn't_ care what ended up happened to the dobe. It wasn't any of his business if the fool wanted to die a slow and painful death. He really tried, but he couldn't shake the sick feeling he got every time he pictured Naruto in that hospital instead of Itachi, slowly bleeding out.

-:-

Sasuke knew he wasn't going to make it out of the fight unscathed. The other boy he was fighting, Haku, had an ice kekkai genkai. On top of that, he was natural protégé. (Nowhere near the caliber Itachi was, but still a protégé nonetheless).

He was fast—too fast for Sasuke to keep track of. He even unlocked his sharingan, but it didn't seem to make enough of a difference.

Sakura was of no help, not that Sasuke ever expected her to be. She was "guarding the client", or at least keeping an eye on him. Kakashi was battling Zabuza, so there was no way he could assist Sasuke without forgoing the mission.

Haku had him trapped in some sort of ice mirror jutsu when the number-one-predictable-orange-ninja decided to join the fight. Naruto the omega had come to the alpha's aide.

Sasuke hadn't looked at, much less spoken to, his teammate since their confrontation in the woods. That being said, he was surprised Naruto so readily jumped in the face of danger to help him. He shouldn't have been—shinobi were trained to put all personal feelings aside for the mission.

But…Naruto had never been the type to put any kind of feeling aside for any reason.

Sasuke didn't have time to be ponder about Naruto's actions. He was in the middle of a fight against a dangerous opponent. For whatever reason, he was glad Naruto came to help him, even if he was just a dobe.

Haku's mask ended up falling, revealing a very beautiful, feminine face. Sasuke momentarily stopped his fighting, wondering if his opponent was a girl or a boy. Naruto's eyes widened at the sight.

"It's you!" He pointed at the boy—er, girl— _it._ He pointed at _it._ "You're the omega I met in the forest!"

 _He's an omega?_ Sasuke didn't even have it in him to be surprised anymore. Itachi was the best fighter he ever knew, and yet he was an omega. It wasn't exactly out-of-this-world for Naruto or this ice-protégé he was fighting to be one either.

"I am," Haku agreed. "I see the suppressants I gave you served you well."

For the next few minutes they spoke about being omegas and protecting precious people, and other crap Sasuke didn't particularly care about. He thought it was odd, that Haku momentarily stopped attacking, but he wasn't complaining. It gave him time to recuperate a bit and strategize.

When the needles came flying at Naruto, aimed to kill, Sasuke stopped thinking. He stopped strategizing ways to out-wit or out-run Haku. He just… _moved._

If ever asked later on, Sasuke couldn't say why he did what he did. The closest he could come to an explanation was that his body acted on its own. Like a reflex.

What Sasuke would never say is that he got that same feeling of panic he had when he saw Itachi lying in that hospital bed. The image of Naruto lying cold on the ground, bleeding, and full of needles flashed before his eyes. Without a second thought or hesitation, Sasuke ran in the line of fire, taking the hit (hits).

In all rationality, it was a dumb thing to do. After all, Naruto wasn't as skilled as Sasuke when it came to fighting. What would stop Haku from killing Naruto once Sasuke was out of the way? If anything, Naruto was even _more_ likely to die.

But the alpha _was_ tired after fighting for so long, and Naruto was fresh to the fight. For some reason, the omega also had crazy stamina. There was a decent chance he could make it out alive.

Naruto looked at the stuck alpha with horror written all over his face. "Sasuke…" it was all but a whisper, "why did you…I don't understand…"

"Dobe," the alpha grounded out and winced in pain. "Like I know. My body just…moved on its own." He was beginning to go numb. That wasn't a good sign. He looked into his teammate's eyes, and had the fleeting thought that he should say more. Maybe something cliché, like about achieving dreams or something. Or he could offer him something useful, like advice to stay alive.

However, his mouth couldn't seem to form the words. Or _any_ words, really. Sometimes, his voice seemed to detach from his mind, and it felt like there was no possible way he could _talk_ or even _communicate._

 _What a way to go,_ Sasuke bitterly thought. _I'm dying, yet I still can't say what I want to. Typical…_

" _Teme!"_ Naruto was yelling at him. That wasn't anything new—the dobe always did that. "You jerk—you always have to go ruining everything, don't you?! That's such a shitty response! Don't you go dying on me, _Sasuke!"_

He wanted to respond—but his mouth and vocal chords refused to work properly. So, he opted to stare at Naruto's face, angry and torn with a confused grief, until he blacked out.

His last coherent thought was, _Are Naruto's eyes red?_

-:-

When Sasuke woke to see Sakura's face, he knew he was alive.

Sure, when most people have an experience where they think they died, they assume they're in some sort of after-line when they wake. Sasuke knew that Sakura was still alive, and in no afterlife would her face he the first he'd want to see.

Cruel, perhaps, but true.

On the trip back to Konoha, Sasuke could tell Naruto wanted to speak to him but was afraid to. It was uncharacteristic of him, but not unexpected. He was afraid Sasuke would give away his secret if prompted. It was only too understandable.

Sasuke himself had no desire to discuss any of it. More than anything, he'd prefer to just forget the whole fiasco. He didn't know why he "sacrificed" himself for Naruto. He didn't even _like_ him.

After they made their missions reports to the Hokage, they were allowed to go home. Sakura reluctantly left, but not before shooting Sasuke a few worried glances. Naruto, interestingly enough, left with Kakashi. Sasuke was the last to file out—his brother was waiting for him at the foot of the Hokage tower.

Despite the cool expression he constantly maintained, Sasuke knew Itachi was a bleeding heart. The older omega didn't exactly act like the typical omega, even still, he was the most caring beings Sasuke ever met. When he caught sight of Sasuke's bandages, the young alpha knew his brother well enough to see the carefully concealed concern flash in his eyes.

"Sasuke," the elder addressed, "your mission was much longer than expected."

"Hn."

He nodded. Sure enough, when they got home, Itachi began fussing over him like some mother hen. He ordered Sasuke to sit, and immediately began looking over his brother's injuries.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Senbon needles?"

It was at that moment in time in which their mother decided to come home from her shopping trip, only to hear that fateful question.

If she hadn't been a trained kunoichi, she would have dropped her bags in horror. As it was, her lips thinned, and her hands trembled for just a spit second. After setting her bags down, she made a point to check over his injuries herself, demanding to know everything that happened on the mission.

"Well," she said once she was positive he was alright, "it could have been worse. Good thing…" Her eyes drifted away for a moment, "…good thing Hatake Kakashi is your Sensei." She stood and began putting the groceries away. All the while, she retained that far-away look in her eyes.

The two brothers shared a glance—it wasn't like their mother to act to distant.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Sasuke nearly jumped at hearing his teammate's name come from his mother's lips.

Mikoto looked conflicted—pained, even. Sasuke couldn't recall a single instance he had seen that expression on her face. Sure, she was a loving and kind mother, but she was not pushover. Before she was a mother, she was a ninja. While she was forced to retire due to the Uchiha tradition, she always maintained the professional façade of a shinobi of Konoha.

Since Fugaku had passed, she returned to active duty as a jonin. She didn't go on missions too much because of Sasuke, but when she did, Itachi was there to watch over his brother. Between the two of them, the young alpha was never left alone.

"That's who your other teammate is, right?" She turned to look Sasuke in the eyes, "Uzumaki?"

Confused, Sasuke nodded.

"You should invite him over sometime," she suggested. "I can't imagine that he enjoys living by himself."

"We're not exactly friends," Sasuke blurted. Which was odd—usually he was so careful to not say anything he didn't think over first.

Itachi looked at his brother with raised eyebrows. It was rare that Sasuke ever offered any information unprompted. He was such a quiet kid.

"Either way, you _are_ his teammate. It would be a good idea to spend some time with him, get to know him. He sounds like he'd…make a great friend if you gave him the chance." She gave her youngest son a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. It made him wonder if she knew something about Naruto that he didn't, but he didn't dwell on that thought. Instead, he went into his room to sleep until dinner was ready.

-:-

Konoha chunin exams.

Kakashi thought that it would be a good idea to enter team seven.

It wasn't that Sasuke didn't want to become chunin—he did. Itachi was nearly an ANBU captain when he was Sasuke's age, which made Sasuke want the promotion even _more._ However, he'd have to be blind and deaf to not see the fact that his team wasn't exactly a… _team._

Sakura was smart, sure, but she was useless in any sort of confrontation. Naruto…was interesting. While he seemed, for all intents and purposes, a screw-up, he could certainly turn the tides of any fight. It wasn't due to skill by any means—he was just unpredictable. His main downfall was that he didn't _listen._ To anything. Not even battle strategies. He just charged in head first.

Sasuke considered himself to be the only one on team seven who was dependable. He always fought his best, which was considerable compared to the average genin. If Sakura and Naruto possessed even an ounce of the consistency and skill he did, then he needn't worry. But they didn't.

He plopped himself down at a familiar dock he used to spend his free time at when he was a young academy student. He hadn't visited it since he father passed, though he didn't know why. It was a great place to be alone with his thoughts.

He didn't think he got enough time alone.

"Oi, _teme!"_

Sasuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. _Maybe if I pretend that I don't hear him, he'll go away._

"I'm talking to you!"

The alpha showed no indication that he heard Naruto.

He heard the tell-tale _whoosh_ of an object hurling toward him. On instinct, he turned and grabbed it before it could strike his head. He regarded the item with disbelief. "A _sandal?_ " he scoffed. "Really? You threw your shoe at my head?"

Sure enough, one of Naruto's feet was bare.

 _Why does my teammate have to be Konoha's resident imbecile?_

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms. " 's not my fault you won't look at someone when they're _talking_ to you."

"Silly me," Sasuke drawled. "What do you want?"

The omega squirmed under the alpha's patronizing stare. His right hand scratched the back of his disheveled mane, while his left was shoved so deeply in an orange pocket that Sasuke was surprised the fabric wasn't ripping. Naruto's expression wasn't friendly, but, for once, it also wasn't blatantly hostile.

"Look, te— _Uchiha,"_

Said "Uchiha" quirked an eyebrow. _Oh?_ He thought, _is he actually attempting to be cordial? He must want something from me. How pathetic._

"I—well, what I wanted—see, back at wave when— _ugh."_ Without waiting for an invitation, Naruto walked over to Sasuke and plopped himself down beside the alpha.

Sasuke resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose in distaste, but couldn't stop his eye from twitching in irritation. He unconsciously moved a few inches away from the blond, who was committing a serious invasion of Sasuke's personal space.

For the first time since he threw the sandal (which was still in Sasuke's hand), Naruto looked his teammate in the eyes. "Why'd you save me at wave?"

His answer was automatic: "I _didn't_ save you at wave, _dobe._ The senbon wouldn't have actually killed you."

"But you didn't _know_ that at the time."

"I made an error in judgment, then."

Naruto groaned and flopped onto his back. Sasuke kept his gaze fixed on the water, so he didn't see the blonde's expression. He wanted him to leave. The pier was his private place—no one ever went there, save himself. It had been his refuge from the outside world, only to be occasionally broken by Naruto.

He supposed Naruto's presence wasn't as bad as another's would be. Naruto had always been intrusive and lacked understanding of personal boundaries. Over time, Sasuke ended up getting used to it, thus finding himself becoming more responsive to the omega than he was to anyone else. It wasn't because he _liked_ Naruto or anything like that, but because Naruto just wouldn't let _anyone_ ignore him for long.

It was tiresome being a teammate to someone like that.

Naruto mumbled something under his breath. He then looked back at Sasuke and said, "Look, I'm only curious, that's all. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't think you had to 'save' me or anything because I'm an omega."

It was weird to hear him refer to his true nature so casually. "It wasn't because of your nature," the alpha drawled. He stubbornly kept his gaze focused on the fish swimming beneath the surface of the lake. He wasn't being indignant. In all honestly, he couldn't bring himself to look at Naruto. Already, his heart beat seemed to be accelerating, and he was having a hard time keeping his hands steady. He gripped the edge of the pier tightly so that the blond couldn't tell. To make it worse, his throat was already starting to close itself off from access.

This always happened when Sasuke was being forced to say something he didn't want to say, or didn't know how to say. It's one of the reasons he fought so much with Naruto—punching him in the face was much easier than giving him a straight answer.

"It was… _because…_ my. Body. Just…moved."

"What kind of lame excuse is that?"

Naruto was such a moron. By that point, Sasuke's throat had completely closed up. He couldn't respond to the dobe even if he wanted to. Over his shoulder, he shot the omega a glare. To his surprise, the other boy didn't look irritated or irate. He looked confused.

"I guess it doesn't matter." Naruto sat up again. He put his arms behind his head, stretching. "Anyway, I just wanted to know if you wanted to make a truce for the chunin exams. I mean, from what I've heard, we're going to _have_ to work together as a team. I'll listen to you as long as you don't try to ignore me and Sakura-chan and do everything by yourself. And don't say you wouldn't have done that, because you _always_ do that!"

On the outside, the alpha scoffed. On the inside, he was very surprised at Naruto's proposition. It seemed pretty unlike him. "Okay."

"I don't like you _either,_ but—wait." Naruto cut himself off to blink at Sasuke owlishly.

 _He really has big eyes,_ the alpha thought. Never before had be noticed how…effeminate Naruto's features were. It was probably because the omega was always screaming at him or something else. _No, effeminate's the wrong word. He looks…pretty?_

"Did you say 'okay'?"

"Hn."

Naruto's face wrinkled in distaste and annoyance. _And,_ Sasuke thought, _he's back to looking like a feral child. Like Kiba._

"That's not an answer, teme!"

" _Yes,_ I said _'okay'!"_ Their exchange was quickly becoming old.

Naruto smiled. "Cool. And don't tell anyone about my nature, or I won't listen to you and make you fail the chunin exams!" His cheeky grin remained intact.

"Wasn't planning on it." Like he said, it was none of his business.

He held out his hand, "Can I have my sandal back now?"

Sasuke looked at the sandal, then at Naruto, and back at the sandal. Without much thought towards his actions, he threw the sandal into the lake. Naruto gasped comically and dove into the water in search of his sandal. (If Sasuke had known that was Naruto's only pair of shoes he would've…actually, it wouldn't have made a difference).

It took Naruto a good five minutes to finally retrieve his sandal. When he did, he glared at the alpha. "What is your _problem?!_ I come to offer you a truce and you throw my shoe in the lake!"

Sasuke shrugged. "My body moved on its own." With that, he spun on his heel and walked away.

Naruto called out, " _That's not an answer, teme!"_

But Sasuke pretended not to hear him.

 **A/N:**

 **Please follow, favorite, and review! Any questions, and I will answer them to the best of my ability.**

 **Review prompt** **: What do you think of Sasuke's characterization? He's not exactly an easy character, and I tried to do his original design justice along with how the backstory I created for him shaped him. OR, what kinds of music do you like? Do you play an instrument or sing? (It's actually really fun to read your guy's response to the random questions!)**


	5. Dumb Omega Part 1

**Special thanks to Dbztron2 for proof reading/editing this chapter. YOU ROCK!**

 **To answer a few inquiries:**

 **How often will I update?**

 **My life tends to have a lot of unexpected twists and turns. That, and I'm usually trying to be in four places at once doing three things at the same time, so I write when I can and I'm not sleeping. (I sleep any time I sit still). I'll try to update once a month/month and a half.**

 **How much does Sasuke know about Itachi?**

 **Sasuke did not know what was going on when he saw Itachi in the hospital. He found out later, and yes, he knows the whole story. He just doesn't know how/why about half his clan was slaughtered. Itachi learned somewhere down the line the risks of taking the pills, but kind of ignored them to keep doing what he thought he had to do at the time…**

 **How did Haku know that Naruto's an omega?**

 **Naruto ran away from practicing tree-walking with Sasuke because he knew the skunk scent was wearing off, and he panicked. That's when he encountered Haku, who, at that moment, smelled hom and realized he was an omega (like himself). They had their precious people talk, and Haku gave Naruto some suppressants as a friendly favor.**

 **Guest who made the comment about my misuse of Geishas:**

 **Thank you for pointing this out. Someone else already pointed out that I confused Oirans and Geishas, I just forgot to mention it. (And even then, I got a few things wrong). The only reason I won't go back and change it is because it's not a crucial element to the story, and I'm lazy. Again, thanks for telling me, and your review! I do like knowing when I've made a mistake/when I'm wrong.**

 **By the way, everyone, I read and greatly appreciate every review. I love all of your suggestions, and will do my best to incorporate the ones that fit. Thank you all so much!**

 **IMPORTANT NOTE: This is chapter 5 part 1. Part two will be posted no later than a week and a half from now. (It was long enough to split into two parts).**

 **Disclaimer: Yeah.**

Konohamaru was the honorable grandson of the third Hokage. He was a few years younger than Naruto and the epitome of what a young, energetic alpha was supposed to be.

Other than his time at the orphanage, Naruto didn't have much experience being around children younger than himself. Konohamaru was a brat, but Naruto couldn't help liking the kid. How could he not when he followed him around, called him "boss", and took his word as gospel? All that aside, there was something that just drew Naruto towards the kid. Perhaps he reminded the blond of himself. Just like Konohamaru, Naruto went around proclaiming that he'd one day be Hokage.

Another perfectly logical answer, though not one Naruto wanted to admit, was that Naruto's liking of the prepubescent alpha was due to his "inner omega". Nature required it of omegas to nurture and adore small children. Though he was no fan of nature, Naruto didn't exactly mind his instinct to protect and teach the children he grew fond of. Instincts to protect someone he cared for couldn't possibly be bad.

That being said, when he saw some stranger bullying his little buddy, he couldn't stand idle. He had to do something.

"Oi!" There were two of them. One was an alpha wearing a foreign shinobi headband and clothed entirely in black—hood and everything. Naruto thought he looked like one of those executioner guys. You know, if they had white and purple face paint…

The other was a female.

An omega female.

She, too, had a foreign shinobi headband. It was the same as the boy's. She had an odd hairstyle of four short pony-tails sticking out the back of her head. On her back was what looked to be…a giant fan?

"Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?!" He pushed Konohamaru behind him, standing between the young alpha and the two offenders. He crossed his arms, puffed out his chest out to look as big as possible, and glared.

The boy laughed while the girl just smirked. "When you find someone 'our size', we'd be happy to," the boy sneered. "Now beat it, kid."

Sakura and Sasuke came running up behind him. "Naruto," Sakura tugged his sleeve, "these are genin from Sand, our allies! They're probably just here for the chunin exams. Let's go."

"I don't care!" Naruto didn't even look at his pink-haired teammate. "They were being mean to Konohamaru! They can't do that! And how can you be a shinobi?!" He pointed at the blond, "You're an omega!"

Sakura blinked quizzically at her blond teammate and then at the foreign shinobi in question. As far as her knowledge went, no foreign village, aside from Takigakure and some dead village named Uzushiogakure, legally allowed omega to become active-duty shinobi. Of course, there were some exceptions to this law and some omegas who slipped through the cracks, but that was beside the point.

The female sand nin blushed, slightly surprised at such a rude question. When the comment fully computed, she gave Naruto the dirtiest glare he'd ever seen. "Why you little—"

"Kankuro. Temari." Both Naruto and Sakura jumped. Sasuke, for his part, had already been looking—or, more appropriately, glaring—at the tree from which the voice came from.  
Out stepped a serious-looking redhead with a huge gourd strapped to his back. He was handing from the tree-branch by his feet—using chakra, or course. Naruto sniffed the air out of curiosity; the redhead was an alpha. A mid-ranking one, which was probably why he didn't smell him out right away. That, and he smelled very similar to the other black-garbed alpha.

They're probably related or something, Naruto figured. Alpha's that smell that alike have to be related.

"Gaara," the other omega had lost all her bravo. Gone was the aggressive shinobi who threatened Konohamaru. She seemed much more self-conscious after the redhead—or, Gaara—had addressed them. "Kankuro" appeared to go under the same change as his female companion. "We were just—"

"Stop making fools of yourself by picking fights." His voice was harsh and gravelly. It sounded like it physically hurt him to use his vocal chords. It gave Naruto the mental of two rocked grating against each other in someone's throat, trying produce a noise. "We're here representing Suna. I can't have you two disgracing our village."

Something about the "Gaara" boy unnerved Naruto, just a little. For the most part, he just pissed him off.

Once they left, Sakura tried to ask Naruto, "How did you know that girl was an omega?"

But Naruto had completely focused his attention on Konohamaru. "Oi, are you okay?"

The little alpha nodded. "Yeah boss!" He chirped. "I just acc'dently ran into them, and they got mad."

While he was still peeved that genin, even if they were from Suna, would actually try to harass a young kid, he was happy they didn't have the chance to do anything to Konohamaru. "That's good." He smiled and ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Just stay away from them. They're nothing but a bunch of shi—"

"Naruto!" Sakura slapped the blond on the arm, horrified that he was actually going to curse in front of a child.

"—ow! Er, poopies. They're a bunch of poopies." The omega rubbed the sore spot on his arm pouted. "Geez, Sakura-chan, you didn't have to hit me…"

Konohamaru laughed at the word "poopies". He had been around enough shinobi to know that Naruto had intended to say something entirely different.

"Look at you," Sakura teased. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a motherly omega."

She meant it as nothing more than a playful jest, but it hit a little too close to home. Naruto made a laugh that was just a bit too forced and scratched the back of his head with just a bit too much exaggerated nonchalance. "Sakura-chan, you shouldn't go around saying crazy things like that!"

She eyed him weirdly. "It was just a joke…"

By then, both she and Naruto noticed that Sasuke hadn't taken his eyes off of where the three sand nin departed. He looked to be in deep concentration—about what, Naruto didn't know. The beta and omega shared a look.

If Naruto had to use one word to describe Sasuke, it would be "complicated".

The alpha had an air about him that made it seem as though he was cool and confident—nothing else to it. As much as Naruto hated to admit it, Sasuke definitely had the skills to back up such an aura as the one he projected. It had always made Naruto think the guy was a bastard—a cocky alpha who thought that he were better than everyone else because he was a talented, high-ranking alpha who came from an old family.

Naruto wasn't any of those things. He was the dead last of his class, an omega, and a clanless orphan with nothing to his name. Everything he wanted was everything Sasuke had. If Naruto were anyone else, he would have aspired to be the Uchiha's friend instead of his rival. But Naruto wasn't anyone else—he wasn't an airheaded fangirl vying for her crush's attention. In consequence, Sasuke became nothing more than a goal to beat…

…a goal that seemed just as alone as Naruto himself was. Sasuke had everything Naruto wanted, but he seemed to just…reject it. Like he was too good for it.

In the end, that was what made Naruto hate him. Not because he was an alpha, not because he had that stuck-up aura, not because he had a family and not because he was talented. No, it was because he had all of that, yet acted as though it didn't matter.

It wasn't until Naruto actually spend some time with Sasuke on a team together that he realized the alpha had issues. He never spoke unless spoken to, for one. After all the time Team Seven had spent together, one would think Sasuke would become comfortable enough around his teammates to actually hold a conversation with them. The only time he spoke was when Naruto made him, or someone asked him a reasonable question. Or, as what has happened on several occasions, when Sasuke gets irritated enough that he decided to voice his irritation.

At first, Naruto just thought that was another part of Sasuke being a conceited jerk. After the mission at Wave, however, Naruto realized Sasuke actually had a physical or mental problem with speaking. When Naruto had tried to make the other boy tell him why he had sacrificed himself for Naruto, Sasuke looked close to having a mental breakdown. His response seemed so physically strained that Naruto didn't have it in him to make him clarify, like he normally would have done with Sasuke.

And then there was that whole thing with the omega suppressants…Sasuke went off on Naruto like he'd never had before. In fact, Naruto couldn't remember a single instance where Sasuke was that animated. Then he got all weird, and went into some trance-like state where he stared at nothing for a good minute. For a moment, Naruto had thought someone mentally attacked his teammate, or something. But Sasuke snapped out of it and acted like he didn't care.

It was definitely weird, that was for sure. Naruto couldn't make any sense of the alpha's strange behavior.

What he would only admit to himself is that he might have misjudged the Uchiha. He wasn't as big of a jerk as Naruto first thought.

But he was still a bastard.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked the boy hesitantly. "What's wrong?"

Sasuke's eyes flickered back to Sakura and Naruto. He shook his head at them. "It's that boy with the gourd, Gaara."

"Oh!" The beta shivered. "Yeah, he gave me the creeps too. I hope we don't run into him again."

"Hn."

Sakura dragged the two of them along, prattling on how she hoped "Ino-pig's" teams wouldn't be entered into the exams.

"Haruno Sakura! You are the most beautiful and youthful woman I have ever met! Please, accept my declaration of love!"

At the sight of a beta with a bowl haircut, green spandex, orange leg-warmers, and the biggest eyebrows Naruto had ever seen proclaiming his love to his pink-haired teammate, Naruto decided that he would never understand beta courting rituals.

Sakura, for her part, looked mortified. The other genin teams were watching them with hushed whispers and barely-concealed laughter. Her eyes darted around at the crowd of people surrounding them. Her face grew red with embarrassment.

Naruto could see the struggle on her face as she looked back at the bushy-browed beta. She was slightly repulsed by the other boy, but she also didn't really want to be mean. Unfortunately, she listed to her louder, repulsed side.

"N-no way!" She shrieked, taking a step back. "I'm in love with Sasuke-kun!" She made a grab for Sasuke, who looked all too annoyed at the recent development. He half-heartedly tried to shake her off.

"Very well," bushy-brow (or "Rock Lee", as he previously introduced himself as) stood. He faced Sasuke and assumed a traditional taijutsu combat position. One arm folded behind the back, the other angled and extended from the elbow to point to the opponent. "It appears that I must battle you for Sakura's love."

Sasuke regarded the other genin with a cool, uninterested expression on his face. Naruto was actually a bit impressed. Normally, Sasuke got rather irritated by being bothered. There was nearly always the tell-tale twitch of an eyebrow, or the lowering of the right corner of his mouth. This time, he refrained from giving any sort of response at all.

Without answering the green-clad beta, the Uchiha spun on his heel and marched back towards the staircase.

Naruto blinked at his alpha teammate, conflicted. The omega in him told him to silently follow the alpha, but the Naruto in him said to drag the "teme's" butt back to registration. For some reason, the omega was the stronger of the two forces, and Naruto followed the Uchiha back to the stairs.

"Oi, Sasuke," Naruto said, following the other boy up the flight of stairs, "what was that about? We still need to register!"

"That was the second floor," Sasuke continued to look straight ahead as he shook the pink-haired beta off his arm. "Registration is on the third."

"A genjutsu!" Sakura's eyes grew wide. She was unfazed at Sasuke so violently shaking her off of him; it appeared she was learning. "Ugh! I can't believe I fell for it."

Naruto was surprised by the "revelation". Though, unlike Sakura, he wasn't all that surprised he missed it. He was always crap at spotting illusions. He held his arms behind his head, gazing at the ceiling. Once he stopped thinking of Sasuke as a jerk, he was pretty easy to follow.

It made Naruto think that maybe, just MAYBE there was some sort of logic to alpha's usually being squad leaders and Kage.

At his traitorous thought, Naruto wrinkled his nose. The only thing that made alpha's dominant and omegas submissive was society and pheromones. That was IT.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Sakura-chan," Naruto gave his beta teammate a reassuring smile. "It seemed to fool plenty other teams too. People are failing before they even start, hehe!"

The pinkette hesitate before returning the smile. "I guess you're right. In any case, it's a good think you were there, Sasuke-kun!"

The dark haired boy, not unsurprisingly, gave no indication that he heard them other than the barest of nods.

Wow, Naruto thought (with just a hint of sarcasm), the teme's really trying today. Normally he would have completely ignored her.

When they got to the third floor, the sight of the other two rookie genin teams awaited them; team 8 and team 10.

Team eight was comprised of Hyuuga Hinata, a beta, Aburame Shino, also a beta, and Inuzuka Kiba, the alpha of the team. Then there was team 10 which consisted of Yamanaka Ino, a beta (who also fan-girled over the Uchiha alpha obsessively), Akimichi Choji, a beta, and Nara Shikamaru, team 10's resident alpha.

Out of all the alphas Naruto had ever met, he liked Shikamaru the best. Not in any romantic way, of course, just as a person. Shikamaru didn't act much like an alpha, despite hailing from a strong line of them. He was very laid-back, and never tried to tell anyone what to do. He only ever made suggestions, but for the most part, let someone else call the shots. In fact, at first glance, it would appear that Ino was the alpha of the group, not Shikamaru.

He and Shikamaru used to ditch class together, along with Kiba and Choji. Kiba was always a bit of an asshole and tried to boss him around, but Shikamaru and Choji were always kind enough. They never went out of their way to be friends with him, but they certainly treated him better than most everyone else. (Sakura was particularly mean to him).

"Hey Shikamaru, Choji!" Naruto smiled and waved to his old classmates. "Your Sensei entered you guys into the exam too?"

The lazy alpha signed and mumbled something that sound a lot like "troublesome". "Yeah, he thought we should take advantage of the fact that it's in Konoha this year."

The omega felt a whirl of a small object zoom past his ear; Shikamaru caught the object, a kunai, with a sigh. "It looks like Ino and Sakura are back to arguing over Sasuke again. Troublesome."

Naruto blinked at the kunai. He turned and, low and behold, the two female beta's were throwing miscellaneous objects at each other left and right. For ninja, it was a little embarrassing that none of the objects they threw actually met its mark. They spat things at each other such as, "Sasuke-kun is mine, Ino-pig!" And "In your dreams, forehead! Who'd ever want to have kids with your ugly ass?!"

Sasuke irritably stood off to the side, pretending that the pathetic "brawl" wasn't about him.

Much to Naruto's surprise, it was Shikamaru who got the fighting to stop. "Oi, Ino! You're embarrassing our team as well as Konoha. I suggest you stop."

Sure, the guy was an alpha, but never before had he told someone what to do. Mellow as they were, his words were effective. Ino gave her alpha teammate a glare, but nevertheless, she stopped fighting with the other beta.  
"Well, well, well, it looks like all of the Konoha rookie genin teams are participating in the chunin exams!"

Naruto all but groaned. It was the Inuzuka alpha, (for some reason, almost all natural-born Inuzuka's were alphas), the biggest alpha jerk Naruto had ever met their age. If Naruto himself was not an omega or Kiba not an alpha, they might have been friends. Their personalities were fairly similar in that they both had high stamina, were rowdy and very energetic. As far as the blond was concerned, that's where their similarities ended. Kiba was a more possessive alpha, one who liked to grab something and scream "MINE," and then piss on it just for good measure. He was bossy, and never stopped pushing his weight around until he got his way.

Naruto was sure that Kiba was going to end up as one of those alphas who raped omegas left and right, and saw nothing wrong with it.

"Inuzuka," Naruto scowled.

Akamaru growled at the omega. Kiba himself scowled. "Uzumaki, what's your deal?"

"I don't like you!" Naruto pointed, then shuffled over to stand next to Sasuke. Naruto knew he was a lot of things, including rude and overly blunt, but one thing he would never be was a liar. He didn't like games of manipulation, and never wanted to pretend to enjoy someone's company when he couldn't stand them.

The Uchiha spared his teammate a glance out of the corner of his eyes. "Dobe," Sasuke whispered to the blond, "if you don't like someone, don't talk to them. It's easier."

Naruto's first instinct was to open his mouth and argue with the alpha. Before he could think of anything to say, he remembered the truce they shook on. He closed his mouth and studied his dark teammate.

Sasuke eyes flicked towards his own in a questioning manner. They were a bit defensive, but mainly open—nonjudgmental. Despite the fact that they were about to start the chunin exams, which you could die participating in, Sasuke's stance stance was loose and relaxed as he leaned against the wall, arms folded across his chest. His face, like was posture, was also relaxed. There was no sneer, no smirk, no scowl—just a guarded, neutral expression. Looking at him like that, Naruto could understand, just a little, why all those beta girls were after him back in the Academy. He did look sort of cool, and the teme wasn't exactly ugly, or anything.

It all made Naruto wonder if Sasuke didn't judge him nearly as much as Naruto thought he did. _Maybe_ , the omega thought, _he's just defensive, like me.  
_  
Sasuke was complicated.

Meanwhile, an older teen which white hair and glasses showed up to offer them some friendly advice. Aka, they needed to shut up. He must have took pity on them, being rookies and all, and showed them some of his special stats cards. He personally didn't find anything wrong with the guy, other than he had taken the chunin exams seven times and still hadn't managed to pass, but his teammate's appeared to think something different.

Sakura, per usual toward strangers, smiled and appeared great full for the assistance, but there was something about the guy that seemed…off. She didn't know if it was the fact that he felt compelled to help the rookies or that he looked too big for his cloths (which actually really bothered the beta), but there was something not quite "all there" about him.

She looked at Naruto, only to see him nodding along. Rolling her eyes, she figured that he didn't have a clue as to what anyone was talking about.

She looked at Sasuke to try to gauge what he was thinking. His expression was a bit…calculating, she'd have to say. His eyes were slightly narrowed at the cards, and the edges around his mouth were tightened. Though, she couldn't tell whether Sasuke was suspicious of the Kabuto guy or he was just thinking about his toughest competitors.  
When they began walking into the first exam, nonchalantly, she pulled aside the alpha of her team and asked what he thought of Kabuto.

Instantly, the Uchiha frowned. "Something doesn't add up."

Naruto decided to join in on their conversation. "Like what?" He piped.

Sakura was rather irate that the butted in. Nonetheless, Sasuke continued speaking, unperturbed at the blond's interference. "Those cards," he said as if it explain it all. When he saw that it didn't, he added, "If he failed the chunin test seven times, how come he has such detailed information on all the current participants?"

"That's right!" Sakura's eyes widened. "There's no way to predict who will be participating each year…in order to have all the information on the participants on the genin exams, that guy would have had to be in contact and close friends with the foreign Kage…as well as this one."

"He had classified information, too." Naruto grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. He hadn't thought about it too much before both his teammate's agreed that there was something off about the silver haired genin they'd met, but the number "9" was written down at the corner of Naruto's information card. On Gaara's, the unnerving ninja from the Sand, it had the number one.  
Naruto initially put off the sighting as some weird coincidence. He didn't know what the "1" on Gaara's card meant, but the "9" on his just hit a little too close to home. He thought that maybe it was the ranking in his graduating class, (because, even though he hated to admit it, Sasuke wasn't "wrong", technically, when he called him "dobe"). But, he didn't see any numbers on the other's cards to indicate any sort of rank.

Would that have meant that Kabuto knew he was Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi? He supposed that, to one who knew where to listen, that tidbit of information wasn't exactly hard to obtain. All chunin and jonin ninjas new about his status, while all civilians on the council had knowledge of the ultimate fate of the Kyuubi. And, well, civilians had nasty habits of gossiping to their family and close friends. Thus, the reason why it was decreed illegal to speak of Naruto's little house-guest.

Regardless, just the very thought of even one of his competitors in the exam knowing about his situation was enough to set him on edge.

"Naruto?"

The omega looked up from his musings to see Sakura regarding him with a slight scowl. "What was it you said?"

"Huh? Oh! I was…nothing important." He shook his head, ridding himself of the thoughts. He needed to be focused on himself and the exam, not about some loser who failed the genin test seven times. He's going to pass it on his first try!

Sakura stared at the blond for a few more seconds. Just a few months ago, she wouldn't have bothered to ask Naruto to repeat himself if she didn't hear what he said. In fact, she would have been more than happy to completely ignore his presence all together.

Yet, despite all of her incessant fangirling over Sasuke and her mean attitude towards the dumb blonde of team seven, she had begun to see that Naruto wasn't as bad as she thought he was. For starters, he was actually pretty handy in a fight. And, annoying as he was, he wasn't a bad guy. On the contrary, he was really nice when he wasn't all worked-up about something (which usually had to do with a certain Uchiha). She's also found that Naruto wasn't quite as stupid as he appeared. The problem was that he didn't think. When he actually chose to think, he could be quite observant and crafty.

There was also something a bit…off about his behavior. She wasn't sexist, but she did stereotype people when it suited her. Naruto didn't act like a beta. He was just a little too touchy and just a little too moody. If Sakura didn't know any better, she'd say he acted more like the two omega cousins she had. They were quieter and not as boisterous, but they were just as moody and touchy as Naruto was. One day they'd smile and play, and the next, they were giving each other the silent treatment.

Likewise, one moment Naruto would be smiling happy, but the instant Sasuke or, (or anyone else, really; it just happened to be Sasuke a lot), just looked at him the wrong way or insinuated something about him he didn't like, he became angry, upset and defensive.

Without a doubt, Naruto was a lot more complex than he appeared to be.

Sasuke gave an inaudible sigh and said, "Dobe."

"Oi, teme!" Naruto punched the alpha's arm. "I thought we made a truce!"

"I never said I would stop calling you 'dobe', dobe. And don't hit me, we have a truce, remember?"

"That's what I just said!"

Sakura watched them argue like she had a thousand times before. She would have to be deaf and stupid not to notice that Naruto was the one Sasuke spoke the most to, voluntarily. She also noticed that something had changed between them after the mission at wave, which most likely due to the fact that it was the first time they fought with each other instead of against each other.

They no longer acted like rivals, but like friends who liked to argue and make fun of the other. In other words, they acted like boys.

 _I hope_ , Sakura thought as she watched the object of her affections, _that one day Sasuke-kun will acknowledge me like he's acknowledged Naruto._

…

Naruto couldn't believe his luck. Basically, he'd just passed the first exam without doing a thing. If the rest of the chunin exams were that easy, the test would be a breeze!

He'd sat by Hinata, the quiet, weird girl on team 8. She offered to let him copy her answers, which was really nice of her, but he'd declined. If he was going to pass the test, it would be because of his own skills, not because he was a cheater. (Apparently, you were supposed to cheat…what kind of test is that?!)

The second portion of the exam had to do with surviving the forest of death, and stealing a scroll from another team. Oh, and you couldn't look at the scrolls. Naruto would be lying if he said he wasn't even just the slightest bit nervous. But he wasn't scared!

Things were going pretty well—until he was ambushed by another team, then a giant snake, and then he was eaten by the giant snake. (Seriously, where do the proctors find giant snakes?)

He killed the snake by creating so many shadow clones that it exploded. Which, if he did say so himself, was pretty freaking awesome. The snake guts that stained his clothes were not as awesome.

It wasn't until he escaped from the snake that he realized he had become separated from his team, and he had no idea where he was.

He heard a scream that sounded a lot like Sakura, so he decided to follow it. In his short life, he hadn't made very many friends, didn't even have very many people who liked him. The most notable person in his life, for the longest time, had been Hokage-jiji. He acted much like a grandfather towards him. He made sure he was fed, had a place to live, and even visited him personally from time to time.

Then came Iruka. He never gave the omega any special treatment, rather, he treated him just as he would any student. It was the first time Naruto had been treated without bias and fairly. Later, Iruka actually grew fond of Naruto, and visa versa. He treated the little blond to Ramen, and made sure that he was taking care of himself.

Around the time Iruka had began to take an interest in Naruto, the three omega from the Okeri came into his life. Naruto, being in an orphanage where all the omega were taken and enrolled in a school omega weren't allowed to attend, never had much interact with others of his nature. Those three, Lyra, Trista, and Megumi, were the first ever to go out of their way and treat him like family. They look him under their wing, warned him what to and not to do, and supplied him with the little white pills that would help him accomplish his dream.

When he was placed on team 7, it was almost as if he was assigned his own little family. He didn't particularly like any of the people he'd been forced to work and collaborate with, but didn't people always say you couldn't choice your family? He didn't choose to be on the same team as Sasuke and Sakura, nor did he choose to be taught by Kakashi. Sakura was too mean, Sasuke too distant and acted too superior, and Kakashi too lazy. But they all had good traits too that just took a little longer to see.

Spending so much time with them, being forced to work with them, and often having to rely on them made Naruto care about them. No, he didn't want them, but does anyone come into this world with family they preselected?

Does a newborn baby know that he needs parents?

Naruto knew he didn't need a family. Sure, he'd always wanted one (and spent countless hours as a very young child crying about not having one), but somewhere down the line, he realized that he was able to get along just fine without one. He didn't need a family; just sure-as-hell would like one. As he grew older, he thought that the longing for a mother, father, sister or brother had subsided somewhat. That the longing had subsided to the point where he was okay with the way he lived.

Being on team seven made him realize that the longing hadn't went away at all—if anything, it intensified. Somewhere amidst the last few months, he became to regard Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke as precious family members who he…really valued being a part of his life. And, knowing what it was like to be truly alone, he would never let anything happen to them.

If something happened to them, he would survive. He knew only too well that he was capable of surviving for his own sake. That being said, if something did happen to them, he'd be beyond crushed. They were his teammates, his friends, and…his family. He'd be damned if they were taken from him.

Sasuke and Sakura were being attacked by a kunoichi from rain. At least, that's what it looked like if someone only caught a glimpse of the "fight". After going up against that ninja, there was no way she was only a genin. She was far too powerful. She was just playing with them.

Of course, right when Naruto got there he had to jump inside the fray to save Sasuke's butt. It really ticked him off; Sasuke was exhausted in their class as a genius, Uchiha protégé. Yet, when they were faced with an enemy they knew they couldn't beat, the "genius protégé" wasn't doing anything but shaking in his sandals, trying to run away.

"Naruto!" His dark haired teammate had cried at him, "stop! He's way too strong! There's no way you could beat him!"

"I know that!" The omega spat back. "But it's obvious that if we run, he's not going to just let us go. He doesn't want our scroll, and we don't know why he's attacking us, but he is! So I'll do whatever I can to protect my teammate's, teme!"

Sasuke's eyes widened at the blond's proclamation. If Naruto had time to reflect, he would have understood Sasuke's terror. The only reason he wasn't wetting himself was because he was running off the chakra the fox gave him. (And, though he'd never admit it, he didn't stop to think things through too often, which is what made him either "brave" or "stupid").

The grass-nin seemed fixated with Sasuke. Naruto didn't know what it's motive was, but he couldn't image the grass nin was just another one of Sasuke's insane fan girls. Sasuke was also being unusually useless, which meant it was up to Naruto to protect him. The thought of something bad happening to the alpha strangely made Naruto feel really sick inside.

"You're starting to annoy me," the grass nin scowled at the blond omega.

Naruto returned the nasty expression, except his was much more vicious. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it, voodoo snake bitch!"

The grass nin only smirked at the blond's attempt to get a rise out of it. "I think I shall muzzle this fox."

Naruto reeled back at the statement as if it was a physical blow. A random over-powered grass nin, someone from another village, knew about his little house guest. No one was supposed to know that he, Uzumaki Naruto, housed the nine-tailed fox.

He became so caught up in his racing thought that he failed to notice the giant sword flying toward him at a breakneck speed. He didn't have time to react. There was a scream, high and shrill (which was most likely Sakura), and something hit him, knocking him over so that instead of lopping his head off the sword merely made chop-suey out of his vocal chords.

He opened his mouth (to scream, to yell, to cry, he didn't know), but of course, nothing could come out. Sasuke was on top of him, and looking at him with some sort of crazed, angry desperation. It was the most intense look of care Naruto had ever seen in his life. He wheezed, trying desperately to breath, but not succeeding very well.

The grass nin took advantage of the moment to bite Sasuke on the neck. It was like some sort of freaky hickey…Naruto vaguely thought that the grass nin probably was a sick fan girl of Sasuke's. Then the alpha began screaming in agony, and the fact that something awful was happening to his teammate finally registered in his mind.

His throat was hot—but he was beginning to be able to suck in air to his lungs. (1) He stood ready to try and charge the grass nin again and snatch his teammate away from him, but he rose too slow. He let go of Sasuke, and the alpha dropped to the ground, unconscious.

The grass nin hauled the blond above the ground by his white collar, touched his bare stomach with his hand (Naruto had a fleeting dread that he was about to get raped or molested), and said something about a five-fingered seal. The pain in Naruto's neck wound increased ten fold.

Then the world fell to darkness.

-:-

When Naruto woke, he was a bit confused. He was lying in a foreign part of the woods on soft mossy grass. Through the trees the sun was shining brightly, as if there wasn't a possibility of being attacked by a psycho-snake-wielding-not-genin-grass-ninja-who-has-a-perverted-crush/fixation-with-your-teammate at any given moment in time.

He blinked at the bright rays, memories of his throat being slashed by the foreign nin replaying in his mind. Almost as if on cue, his throat began to ache. A lot.

He gasped at the sudden onslaught of pain, unwittingly raising a hand to the red-stained bandages on his neck.

There was a shuffling of movement off to his left. "Naruto! You're awake!"

He opened his mouth, but only a breathy wheeze came out. Sakura was suddenly hovering above him with a thin, relieved smile and a couple tears escaping her eyes. "You're finally awake…I was so worried you wouldn't ever wake up. It just wouldn't…it wouldn't stop bleeding…"

At seeing that kind, caring, distraught look on her face, Naruto felt like the scum of the earth. Sure, he'd never particularly liked Sakura because of how mean she was to him, but he'd never particularly disliked her or wished her any ill-will. And through working on a team with her, she'd began to soften up, and the yelling didn't quite have the same vicious intent behind it anymore.

His throat hurt like hell, he was struggling to take even shallow breaths and he couldn't even utter a sound. Despite all that, he gave Sakura the biggest grin he could muster and a thumbs-up.

With a strangled laugh, Sakura began to cry. Naruto struggled to sit up, using the convenient tree to his right to help him, and enveloped her in a hug as a sort of apology. She didn't sob or act overly emotional, she just allowed the tears to leak out of her eyes in relief at seeing the blond alive.

"You know," she said, wiping her eyes after he let go of her, "you're really annoying. And bright, and an idiot, and loud, but…I've a bit unfair to you about it, and—and I guess what I'm trying to say is that I value you as my teammate and…friend." She smiled at his shocked blue eyes. "Please, don't scare me, scare us like that again."

For a moment, Naruto just stared at the pink-haired beta, unable to get over his shock. His eyes began to grow hot and heavy with emotion. 'Pull yourself together, Uzumaki,' he thought to himself, 'ninja's don't cry.' He shakily pulled one of the corners of his mouth up in some pathetic mockery of a smile, and crossed his heart in lieu of a spoken promise.

Carefully, he opened his mouth and slowly mouthed, 'Where's Sasuke?'

It took a couple seconds for Sakura to understand, but she seemed to get his just. "Sasuke? Oh, he, um…he spotted another team with an earth scroll, and since someone had to watch you, he thought he could get it himself…" She trailed off, worrying her lip at the thought of Sasuke's strange behavior.

The way he acted with the sound nin, and the strange dark marks that appeared across his body frightened her. She had no doubt that whatever was happening to him had to do with whatever the grass nin did to him when she bit him. Afterwards, he'd acted fairly normal. Well, normal for Sasuke, anyway.

Sakura was brought out of her musings when Naruto started trying to stand. His face grimaced in pain, and it looked like the red patch on his bandages was growing larger again. "Naruto, slow down!" She placed her hands on his shoulders, and made him lower himself back to the ground. "Look, I know you want to help Sasuke, but you almost died. That neck wound should have killed you, but somehow it didn't. Try not to move you head, or move too much at all, really."

Naruto looked like he wanted to protest—but doing so was pretty hard what with his voice box currently out of commission, and the fact that he should have been dead.

There was a rustling of leaves to their right. Sakura froze, grabbing a kunai, and prepared herself for whatever it was coming toward them. When Sasuke came into the clearing, face impassive, and holding a scroll of earth with him, Sakura visibly relaxed.

"Sasuke," she breathed, "You got it!" It wasn't that she doubted Sasuke's abilities as a fighter, rather she had been concerned for him ever since he woke up. When he found the sound nin, he acted as though he had been possessed by some evil spirit. Though, with the way things were going, that wouldn't have been all that surprising.

The alpha nodded, eyes roaming to Naruto's form a few feet away. His eyebrows creased together just a millimeter, and the corners of his mouth tilted downward. "How's he doing?"

For some reason, Sasuke kept his distance from Naruto.

Sakura sighed worriedly. "He seems to be able to move around for the most part, but nothing that jostles his head too much. He can't speak."

Naruto scowled at the two, wanting more than anything to wave his arms around and shout, "I'm right here!" But that would end up jostling his head too much. On a pain scale from 1 to 10, he was at a 9. There was no need to make it any worse.

Sasuke's gaze lingered on Naruto for a few seconds before he turned back to Sakura and gave her a brisk nod. "We should get moving. The sooner we can get Naruto medical attention, the better."

Sakura nodded in agreement. "You're right. But, uh, could I go use the bathroom really quick? You were gone for a while, and I couldn't leave Naruto but someone had to watch him, and—"

"Just go."

"I'll be right back, Sasuke-kun!"

When she left, Sasuke crossed the space between him and the omega. Once he was directly in front of him, he sat down, legs crossed. "While she's gone, I thought I should tell you." Sasuke still wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Your…suppressants wore off."

Naruto's eyes widened to the size of saucers. His hands flew to his pockets, fingers searching desperately for a little white pill.

He stilled when he felt something touch his shoulder. Sasuke briefly met his eyes before looking away. But his hand stayed on his shoulder. "Don't bother. I don't think swallowing is a good idea right now."

Naruto looked at Sasuke, at Sasuke's hand on his shoulder, then back at Sasuke. While looking at Sasuke, his hands continued to search his pockets for his suppressants.

"Stop it. I already disposed of them."

The omega couldn't describe what he felt at that moment. Anger, sure. But also something else; something like panic or desperation. Unless he was seen by beta medics and managed to take a suppressor before anyone else saw (smelled) him, he was royally screwed. He could kiss all his dreams and aspirations goodbye. He could kiss Hokage goodbye.

"You can hardly breath. If you try to swallow, you're just going to end up choking to death."

Naruto wanted to scream, 'What do you care? Aren't you a high and mighty high-level alpha Uchiha? What do you care about a useless omega dobe?!' But he couldn't. The pain in his throat was too great to even attempt to speak. He settled for attempting to glare the other boy to death.

"Calm down, dobe. You'll be fine. We'll get to the tower, and you'll get seen by a medic. Everything will be fine."

He was tense. Naruto could tell that he was trying to look nonchalant and aloof, but he had been too shaken due to all that had transpired in the last thirty-six hours. There were dark bags on his porcelain face, matching his dark eyes.

'I'll be damned,' Naruto thought, looking at the Uchiha with shock, 'Is the teme worried about me?'

They fell into silence after that. Naruto was resigned to the fact that he was going to have to smell like, well, like his natural scent until he could find some way to take a suppressant. Sasuke was just Sasuke, and he was never a great conversationalist.

When Sakura finally came back (why did girls take so long going to the bathroom?), the three of them started to head back to the tower. Naruto was forced to be carried by Sasuke the rest of the way by the other two members of team seven. It was humiliating to say the least, but there was little Naruto could do. His voice was gone, and he was severely injured. He did his best not to think about it, because if he really thought about it, he would start panicking.

After all, he was like a wounded lamb, just waiting for a lion to come and eat him. He had an injury that really should have killed him, and he had a feeling that the only reason he was even alive was somehow due to the Kyuubi. His suppressants wore off, and he wasn't able to take any more, so if any alpha genin happened to smell him…well, that was the end for him. And his throat hurt. So. Freaking. Bad.

If he thought about any of it, he'd go crazy. So he did what he did best and didn't think. He let Sasuke carry him, and he let himself feel a little like a pathetic omega for once. Sasuke, probably unbeknownst to him, was letting off pheromones that were meant to calm an omega down, probably in response to Naruto's distress. It was the first time Naruto had smelled something other than aggressive and dominant pheromones from an alpha, and it was…nice. It was like someone gave him a very much needed dose of morphine.

' _When alpha's smell like this_ ,' the omega thought sleepily, ' _I can see why omegas go so crazy over them.'_

The whole time, Sasuke, despite running at near full speed, did his best not to jostle his teammate too much.

The universe must have decided it had put team seven through enough, for they arrived at the tower without another hitch. There was still two days before the second stage of the chunin exam was over and they would move on to whatever the third phase was.

Iruka greeted them. He just about had a heart attack when he saw Naruto on Sasuke back. He all but grabbed the boy from Sasuke, careful not to hurt him, and called for a medic. The medics that came to assist were, by some miracle, all betas. It was lucky that alphas tended not to go into the medical field.

It wasn't lucky that Naruto just so happened to pass by another alpha genin when being dragged away to get evaluated. It wasn't just any other genin, either; it was the freaky red-headed alpha from Sand. His eyes locked with Naruto before the omega was dragged out of sight. Naruto wasn't even sure what the other boy was doing in that side of the tower (he was pretty sure he wasn't allowed to be there), but it didn't change the fact that the red-headed alpha had undoubtedly gotten a whiff of Naruto's omega scent.

' _Well, shit.'_

-:-

 **(1) I figured that the Kyuubi's chakra would heal the most important thing first, namely the breathing airways. Otherwise he would have suffocated and died. Vocal chords come second, but Orochimaru slammed on his handy seal before that could happen…**

 **Alright, thank you for reading! Please follow, favorite, and REVIEW! Seriously. Tell me what you think of these developments.**

 **REVIEW PROMPT: Thoughts on this chapter?**

 **OR**

 **What was your first impression of anime? OR What got you into anime? OR What made you decide to watch Naruto? OR What's your favorite anime character of all time?**


	6. Dumb Omega Part 2

**Here's part 2, as promised! Thank you for all the support!**

 **IMPORTANT NOTE: Someone mentioned in a review that they were surprised when I made the comment in the last chapter that Sasuke wasn't as smart as Sakura or Shikimaru, but could put "four and six together when it suited him". When it said that, I was referring not as much as to Sasuke's intelligence as much as how he uses it. To me, I've always seen Sasuke as someone who is so focused on one thing that he neglects to notice many other things. Even if he did notice something strange, he's more prone to ignore it than he would be to question it (like Sakura and Shikimaru) because he just doesn't care/has no interest in it. That is really all I meant by that; if Sasuke actually puts his mind to figuring something out, he's VERY smart. (As smart as in cannon, yes). But he doesn't because he's way to focused and has a nasty tendacy to block everything (and everyone) else out.**

 **Disclaimer: Yup!**

Sakura was scared.

She was the most scared for Naruto.

Who was, she now knew, an…omega.

The notion still seemed ludicrous to her. When the sound nin showed up, the one wrapped in bandages had sniffed the air and said, "It looks like they have a little omega on their team. How queer."

She had been confused at first. Omega? What omega?

They laughed at her stupidity; of course, it only made sense that a dim-witted, girly-girl beta didn't have the ability to smell out her own teammate. It was only natural they made fun of her. They were all alphas, it looked like.

"You know, if it weren't for those stupid orange cloths and neck wound," the girl had said, "He'd be pretty cute. If I weren't so convinced that he's going to die, I'd want to take him with us. There aren't very many omega in sound, after all."

It was impossible. Naruto was a beta, like she was! Sure, there were certain ways an omega could suppress his or her scent, Sakura knew that, but it was dangerous (both acquiring them and using them).

She was so tired, confused, and dumbfounded that she didn't even realize the sound nin with spiky dark hair was headed toward her blond teammate. She tried to stop him, to tackle him or something, but the girl already grabbed her hair was was using it to gain leverage on her.

"Dang," the genin by Naruto whistled. "This kid's still breathing. You were right," he flashed his teammates a smile, "he smells really good too."  
"Get away from him!" Sakura tried in vain to escape the other girl's grasp, but she only ended up pulling tighter.

"Such pretty, soft hair," she snorted. "You must spend hours making sure not a single strand it out of place."

In that moment, all Sakura could think about was how much of an utter hypocrite the female alpha was. Her hair was easily twice as long as Sakura's! Seriously, what the actual heck?! She made a split second decision that she wasn't sure she wouldn't regret later.

She took out her kunai, and cut off the hair the sound nin was holding. Not that it made any difference. All considering, she held her own pretty well, but there was no way she could beat the three of them. She was exhausted, and never much of a fighter in the first place.

Team ten came to help. They must have been close by, saw the pathetic situation she was in, and taken pity.

And then Sasuke woke up. He was…not right. He broke the arm of the boy with the spiky hair. They ended up running away, giving up their scroll.

Sakura gave the scroll to team ten as a thank you. Before they left, Shikamaru gave a long glance at her sleeping blond-haired teammate, then looked at Sakura and Sasuke with raised eyebrows.

She gulped. So the sound genin weren't lying. Naruto did smell like an omega. But…why? Was he really and omega? Or was it something the grass ninja had done to him, to make him smell like that?

Luckily Shikamaru didn't say anything, and since Ino and Choji were both beta, they didn't notice anything was up. If Shikamaru did ask, Sakura wouldn't have known what to say.

After everyone was gone and team seven was alone once more, Sakura turned toward her other conscious teammate, only to see him searching Naruto's person. It looked as if Sasuke was a desperate genin, searching a dead body for food, or anything else that could be of use. The thought made Sakura's mouth go dry in horror, though Naruto was wheezing far too loudly for her to think him dead. As annoying as that sound was, it reassured her that he was still alive.

"Sasuke," she said.

He grunted in acknowledgment, but continued searching the blond's prone person.

"The sound nin, before you woke up said…" She cleared her throat, and revised her question. "Does Naruto smell like an omega to you?"

Sasuke's hands faltered for a split second before continuing on, twice as fast. They didn't stop until they found a handful of small, white bead-like objects that looked like either mints or pills. Sasuke slipped them into his own pockets. "Yeah," he admitted, "he does."

And that was it. He didn't elaborate. "Is…" She hesitated, not quite knowing how to talk to the dark, silent alpha. In the back of her mind, she knew that she should be taking advantage of the fact that she was alone with her near life-long crush, but that just seemed so…unimportant. It was ironic, however, that the moment she finally gets some "alone" time with the boy of her dreams, they're talking about their teammate. "Sasuke, is Naruto an omega?"

He gave her a sidelong glance. "Yeah," he repeated, "he is."

"But…why…how…?" The answered question just left her with more questions to begin with.

Sasuke shook his head at her in reproach, carefully but swiftly picking up their unconscious teammate. "I accidentally found out in wave, but it was none of my business. Still isn't. Ask him your questions once he's well, but right now, we need to get him to a medic. He's not exactly my friend, but I rather not have a teammate die on me if I can help it."

So yes, she was scared for Naruto. Whatever he'd been doing to suppress his scent obviously wasn't working anymore. He was going to get smelled out, whether it be by a medic, Kakashi, or the Hokage. Even if he was being seen by beta doctors, if they do x-rays or an MRI, it will be pretty apparent that what they'll see won't exactly be that of a typical male beta.

Once Naruto was carried off, Iruka turned toward the other two members of team seven and demanded, "What. Happened."

-:-

Kakashi had always considered himself a pretty laid-back person. Sure, there had been a period of time where all he cared about was his own personal advancement, but he never became overly concerned or invested in a certain cause. He never had a great passion, never became overly concerned with affairs that didn't involve him, and never made anyone else's business his own. Thus the reason Gai had always called him so "cool".

Because of that, he found it a little ironic how he, one of the least concerned and intrusive people he knew of, always ended up involved in situations he really didn't need to be involved in. (Not that he minded; messing with others and knowing things about them was fun).

Looking at his genin student who slept soundly in his hospital bed, Kakashi realized that there was officially (at least) three omega shinobi he's known. Itachi had been the biggest shock. Even then, once he had thought about it, it almost seemed…expected. Itachi was a soft spoken person who had always preferred to be told what to do rather than tell someone else what to do.

Naruto was not docile. He was a rowdy kid, often uncooperative, stubborn, and had a temper that nearly rivaled that of his mother's. It should have been a greater shock that the kid was an omega, but somehow, it didn't take Kakashi by surprise.

It was probably because he reminded Kakashi so much of his late sensei's wife, Uzumaki Kushina. Heck, now that Naruto didn't have any scent suppressants in his system, he even smelt a lot like his mother. Sweet, like any omega, but also a little like the ocean breeze—it gave away Naruto's Uzushio ancestry.

The thoughts vanished quickly. He always found it best never to linger on thoughts of Minato-sensei and Kushina-san.

There was movement in the hospital bed. (They had put Naruto under anesthesia for augury). The boy was awake.

-:-

"I see you've woken up," Kakashi noted. He closed his book, stowing it away. The one visible eye lazily drifted to meet Naruto's. "Due to your injury, you won't be able to speak for a long while. But don't worry," he gave his student an eye smile, "given your abilities, I'm sure you'll manage to heal."

It seemed as though he was sincere (it's always hard to tell with that guy), for Kakashi was radiating the same calming pheromones Sasuke had been. Though Sasuke's had smelled better to the omega, Kakashi's still did the trick.

"You're probably wondering what's going on and whatnot, so I'll fill you in." The jonin leaned back in his chair. "You're no longer in the forest of death. There were too many teams that managed to pass, so they're holding a preliminary round, in which the genin will fight one-on-one. It's actually starting soon." Kakashi saw the sudden burst of urgency in the blond's eyes. "Sorry, my cute student, but you've already been disqualified. Because the second exam was not yet over and you received medical treatment, you technically forfeit."

Kakashi waved away all the protests Naruto mouthed. "Naruto," he sat forward in his chair, sternly looking the blond in the eyes, "I know you don't like to give up, and I know you look at this as such. That doesn't change the fact that you are not physically able to continue the exams." He leaned back in his chair once more, his eye staring at nothing in particular. "In the end, it is only a chunin exam. There will be more."

Naruto slumped where he sat.

"In the meantime, let's have a little chat. After all, it's not everyday you discover a male beta with internal mammary glands and a uterus." Kakashi gave Naruto that patronizing eye-smile.

 _'He's enjoying this,'_ Naruto thought bitterly.

The omega didn't respond. He couldn't respond. For all intents and purposes, he was mute. What he did do was cross his arms and stubbornly look away.

"You did a pretty good job of hiding it," Kakashi continued, "but somewhere along the line, you would've gotten caught. After all, you now live with me. It can be difficult to hide your heat from an alpha."

Naruto refused to acknowledge anything the jonin said.

Sighing, Kakashi plowed on. "To give reaffirmation that you're still a valuable human being, no one cares that you're an omega. The only problem is the law.

"Now, Hokage-Sama couldn't be here at this very moment in time, so I was given the job of passing on his message. Due to your little condition, we'll continue to keep your other little condition under wraps. It's in the best interest of everyone if you're a ninja. So no need to worry about your future."

Naruto looked at his Sensei with large eyes. He blinked. He blinked again. After that, he blinked a third time.

Was he…hearing Kakashi Sensei correctly? Was he still allowed to be a ninja because of the demon fox trapped inside his gut?

 _'Well, Kyuubi-teme,_ ' he thought, _'it looks like you're good for something._ '

Sure, he was mad that he wasn't able to advance to the third round of the chunin exams, but now he knew that he would be able to take the chunin exams again. After all, the Hokage all but told him it was okay for him to continue on the path of a shinobi, despite being an omega.

Over the course of the next twenty minutes, Kakashi carefully explained to Naruto that he along with the rest of team seven had been attacked by one of the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru. From what it sounded like, they were even luckier to get out alive than they initially thought.

After that, the alpha explained that the Hokage was bringing in another one of the Sannin, Jiraiya, to look Naruto over. They think that Orochimaru did something that tampered with his seal since he wasn't healing normally. By all means, a wound like that on his neck should have already been healed by the fox's chakra. The only reason he wasn't dead was most likely due to however much the fox could heal him before the snake nin did whatever he did to Naruto's seal.

Once he was finished, Kakashi cheerfully waved goodbye, claiming he had to go see how his other genin students were fairing in the prelims, and no, Naruto couldn't come; he hadn't been discharged yet.

Once more, Naruto was alone.

-:-

In the face of imminent rape, Naruto wondered how his life could've gone so wrong.

Not only did this…sage ninja, or whatever he was…look at and write porn, but he wrote porn with the scratch and sniff covers! That means that the alphas who read his crap will be able to…smell the omegas while they read.

Those books have always creeped Naruto out to no end. Sure, it was an artificially created omega scent and smelled nothing like Naruto himself, but just getting a whiff of that book made him feel violated in the worst ways possible.

Not that he was much better, when he really thought about it. Whenever he knew he was going into heat soon, he always tried to wheedle a alpha-pheromone-infused pillow out of Trista and Lyra. Those pillows worked wonders in calming him down in that state. He guessed that if one of those stupid porn books helped keep alphas from going into ruts and raping omegas. they did more good than harm.

It didn't mean he had to like or support the existence of them.

Aside from that, the pervy-sage (whose actual name is Jiraiya) wasn't all that bad. He knew how seals work which was pretty cool, meaning that he knew what was wrong with Naruto's seal.

He took one look at Naruto's stomach and said, "It looks like Orochimaru put a seal that limits and distorts the flow of the Kyuubi's chakra right in the middle of it patching up your throat. Well, that explains why your neck wound didn't finish properly healing."

The Kyuubi's chakra had fixed what was most important first: his ability to breath. It didn't get to the vocal chords before Orochimaru slapped on that seal.

The pervy-sage made a face at the seal before lowering Naruto's shirt back down. When the omega gestured to his stomach as if to say, "Aren't you going to do something about this?", the old alpha said, "I can't remove it now. Because they've sat damaged for long enough, the chakra won't heal your vocal chords properly, which could potentially permanently mute you. You need surgery before I release this seal. If that starts becoming detrimental, I'll release the seal, but you'll have more of a risk of never regaining your voice."

Naruto made an ugly face. That did not sound appealing at all. He couldn't image not being able to speak. In a village where so many still hated him for things beyond his control, his voice was often his only line of defense. He couldn't just lose it.

Jiraiya told Naruto that he'd no longer be able to take the suppressants since they were so "dangerous and it's a miracle he'll still be able to bare children". Instead, he'd be given herbs that come from some sort of weird plant from some sort of weird island that can suppress the scent of an omega, but not heats.

Which was just freaking-fantastic, because Naruto was about to go into a heat. And this time, he couldn't take suppressants for it.

-:-

Sakura didn't end up advancing to the final round of the chunin exams. She and Ino ended up knocking each other out after a two and a half hour long fight that apparently wasn't all that impressive anyway. (Except for the part where she kicked Ino out of her head; that was pretty awesome and nothing will convince her otherwise).

After Naruto was dragged away and the fight with the snake nin was explained, Iruka called Kakashi over to do something to the bite the snake-nin had given Sasuke. The Uchiha had looked less than thrilled about being "fussed over", but he didn't complain.

Sasuke returned that night, unconscious, and slept until the preliminaries for the third exam. He, naturally, won his match and was advancing to the third round. Kakashi nearly missed it, coming just in time for him to finish his opponent.

He nonchalantly cruised back up to the platform with his shoulders slouched and hands in pockets. Ino instantly latched into him and fawned over how incredibly cool he was. Normally Sakura would have participated, but the past week had been anything but "normal" for her.

She noticed the tension in her teammate's shoulders and the troubled look in his eyes that she would have missed just a couple weeks ago.

Once he reached his teammates, their Sensei gave an eye smile to smaller alpha. "It looks like at least one of my adorable little students is advancing to the third round."

Sasuke didn't respond right away, opting to stare blankly at their Jounin Sensei. "Where's Naruto?" He asked simply.

Sakura's eyebrows flew up to her hairline. She didn't expect her broody teammate to acknowledge the fact that they hadn't heard about Naruto's condition, and that he obviously wasn't being allowed to advance to the third round.

Kakashi's visible eyebrow twitched in mild surprise. Clearly, he didn't expect his broody student to ask about their missing orange-clad teammate either. "Naruto is currently recovering in the hospital. For receiving medical treatment before the second exam was officially over, he technically forfeited his chance to participate in the third and final round."

Sasuke's eyebrows twitched together as a slight frown overtook his face. He nodded and didn't say a word for the rest of the exams.

Once the winners of the preliminary rounds knew who they would fight in the third and final round, Sasuke, without even giving Sakura a second look, began to head back to Konoha as fast as he could. Sakura didn't know if it was because he wanted to get away from the red-headed Sand nin who was, quite literally, a psychopathic murderer, or if he was just that anxious to get out of the forest of death and as far away from the memory of that snake nin who cursed him, Orochimaru.

Before she could even call out to him and ask him to wait, he was gone. She suppressed the sigh she felt building up inside her, choosing to exhale from her nose instead. She had thought that, with everything they had just experienced, Sasuke was beginning to warm up to her and think of her as an actual friend. (Not that she wanted to be friend-zoned, but anything was better than him thinking her annoying).

"Sakura."

She nearly jumped at the voice that sounded behind her. She turned to see none other than Shikamaru standing behind her, giving her that ever-present look of boredom and slight irritation. "Oh, hi Shikamaru," she said, fully turning to face the alpha. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something."

"It's fine," he drawled. Something minuscule changed in his expression. "How's Naruto? Did he ever wake up?"

It took all of the beta's willpower not to outright wince. Shikamaru has smelled Naruto, so he knew he was an omega. "Yeah, he woke up, but he can't talk. He had to forfeit because he received medical attention."

"What a drag. I bet he's going to be pretty upset once he realizes that he can't advance to the third rounds."

"Yeah, he hates doing anything that looks like he's 'giving up'." She used finger quotes with "giving up".

Shikamaru hummed in mild agreement. "With his condition, who knows."

Sakura opened her mouth, only to close it again. The alpha's answer didn't quite follow their previous line of conversation. Before she could make any sort of response the Nara regarded her strangely and said, "Hm. Troublesome. I guess I'll see you around, Sakura."

He left with one hand raised behind him in a half-assed wave.

-:-

There was nothing, absolutely nothing worse than having a heat inside a hospital. No alpha-pheromone-infused pillows, no privacy, and, worst of all, no nest. Seriously, Naruto was very close to charging the hospital with omega abuse.

 _'Not that anyone would listen,'_ he thought as he played with the fringe on the bed sheets.

It had been two weeks since he had been omitted into the hospital, and one day since he finished his heat. During that time, he hadn't been visited by anyone except beta or omega nurses coming to sedate him, or make sure his vitals were all okay. Kakashi and the perv hadn't thought it would be wise to visit him. (The very thought of either of the alpha perverts seeing him when he was…indisposed…made him shudder with horror).

It wasn't exactly good that he had went into heat so soon after his injury. He was already low on blood and energy, not to mention the fact that he still couldn't swallow anything. _That_ meant he hasn't been allowed to drink water or eat ramen in _two weeks_!

He felt as though he was going to waste away. He was thin and weak from spending the past two weeks confined to the hospital, and the last week confined to a bed. The pain in his throat had dulled from stabbing pains to a constant ache. It was annoying, that was for sure. With nothing else to do, it was hard to ignore the pain. He was given morphine through his IV, but it didn't always help that much. The most it did was allow him to turn his head without feeling as though a rabid animal was ripping his throat out.

The pain wasn't as bad as the insane boredom. In his heat, it was hard to think about anything but…the needy thing he didn't like to think about. (He always felt ashamed after each heat).

The nurses came to check on his vitals, yet left as quickly as they could. They never talked to him, never even looked at him if they could help it.  
With a decisive huff, he pushed himself out of the bed. He used the metal stand of the IV bag to steady himself. His legs ached a little from staying near dormant over a week. He was wearing fresh pressed boxers and a hospital gown. _'I'm decent enough to go exploring,'_ he thought.

He took the IV bag and stand with him—the last time he had removed the stupid thing, he got yelled at, and they had just put it back in him. It was easier to take the thing with him than to rip it out, only for it to hurt, and to get reprimanded.

There was no one in the halls except a few beta nurses running about, none noticing the silent blond wandering around. (He was, regrettable, rather short). Since he was also, at the moment, temporarily mute, he was nearly invisible to the busy bodies of the hospital staff.

In his wandering, he happened to pass a room where, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a flash of pink. He stopped, backed up a few steps, and peered in to make sure he saw what he thought he saw.

Sure enough, there was his teammate, Sakura, setting some white flowers in a vase next to that one green-spandex ninja who had confessed his love for her before the start of the written exam.

Naruto's eyes widened at the implications. He wasn't stupid; he knew what it meant when people gave each other flowers. _'How long have I been gone?!'_ The omega thought frantically. The last time he saw those two together, Sakura hated him! Now, all of a sudden, she was giving him tokens of her love?!

He opened his mouth to call out to her, but nothing came out. That was really annoying. He knocked on the door, startling her to the point where she nearly dropped the vase of flowers. Once she saw him she exclaimed,. "Naruto!"

He gave her a sheepish smile and waved in greeting. She frowned, recovering quickly from her shock. "You idiot! The doctors wouldn't let us see you! We had no idea if you were okay or not!"

He shrugged as if to say, 'What can you do?'

"Well," she huffed dryly, "I guess you're just perfectly fine."

The sound of the fan above made a methodical 'ticking' noise. From outside the room came the sounds of the day-to-day staff running all about. Rock Lee's heart monitor "beeped" every now and then. Other than that, it was completely silent.

On any other day, Naruto would've happily broken any silence. But, given the whole mute thing, he wasn't really capable of doing that at that moment in time. Instead, he settled with gesturing to her, then to Rock Lee on the hospital bed, next to the flowers, and finally brought his hands together to make a "heart" symbol across his chest.

When Sakura realized what he was asking, her cheeks caught aflame. "What?! No, no, NO! You've got the wrong idea!" She adamantly waved her hands back and forth and gave a disgusted sneer. "He's nice and everything, but I do not like him like that." She shuttered at the mere thought.

Naruto gave her a confused, disbelieving look and mouthed, "Then what?"

Her face straitened. Slowly, her eyebrows furrowed together in what only could be concern. "Well, I just…feel bad about how he was hurt. I suppose you don't know, huh?"

Naruto nearly shook his head, but stopped himself; any type of neck movement did not feel too great, so he mouthed, "No."

All the energy seemed to just…leave Sakura as she plopped herself in the seat next to the green-clad ninja. She gave the other beta a look that wasn't necessarily concern, so much as it was…fear. In fact, she didn't seem to be looking at him as much looking past him, as though her mind were somewhere else.

"Do you remember that red-headed genin with the gourd from Sand?" At Naruto's thumbs up she continued, "His name's Gaara. Rock Lee had to fight him in the preliminaries, and Gaara nearly killed him. I know it doesn't seem like it, but Lee's actually a really good fighter; maybe even better than Sasuke.. And for the third round, Sasuke's supposed to fight him. Sasuke's amazing, but this Gaara…he's something else. He was trying to kill Rock Lee, and given the opportunity, I'm certain he won't hesitate to kill Sasuke."  
A cold chill ran down the length of Naruto's spine. The genin from Sand she was talking about was the same one who had seen him carted off to the hospital and knew he was an omega. He had no idea what that meant for him later given Sakura's depiction of him, but it couldn't be good.

The concern over his own secrets, however, paled in comparison to the sick feeling of dread that settled in his gut at the thought of Sasuke fighting someone like that. It didn't make any sense…sure, Sasuke was his teammate and sort-of-friend, but he didn't care about the alpha enough to feel like he was going to be physically ill at the thought of him fighting someone like that.

…right?

"When I see him," Sakura continued, ignorant of Naruto's turmoil, "I'm going to try and convince him to forfeit the match." At Naruto's questioning glance she clarified, "I haven't seen him since the preliminary rounds. Kakashi took him to some special training. I, ah, lost my match, so I won't be advancing."

Naruto patted her back consolingly. Instead of hitting him like she normally did, she offered him a half-hearted smile, which the omega returned.

She seemed to remember something, and turned from weary to nervous. "Uh, Naruto, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you—"

"There you are, brat!"

The small blond scowled. He turned around and pointed an accusatory finger at the bear of a man blocking the whole doorway.

"Me?!" The legendary pervert gestured to himself in exaggerated dismay.

Naruto pointed again, but with more intensity as if to say, 'Yes, YOU!'

"Oh get off your soap box," Jiraiya waved the boy's concerns off. "I haven't been here for over a week because I assumed you wouldn't want me here during that week." Naruto's finger slowly lowered as he remember how the Sannin was an alpha and Naruto himself had spent the last week in heat. His cheeks reddened slightly in mortification. Jiraiya snorted. "Yeah, that's what I thought.

"Anyway," He leaned against the doorway nonchalantly,, "You should get back to your room. You're not cleared to go wondering yet. Or, for that matter," he gave a sidelong glance at Sakura, "have regular visitors."

Naruto huffed irritably, but couldn't quite quench the budding excitement in his gut. Though he'd only really met with the guy a couple of times, Naruto knew he wouldn't go out of his way to seek Naruto out for a social visit.

-:-

Kakashi never had much interaction with Sasuke's mother. He'd met the woman once or twice in passing and she seemed to be a bit like Itachi. That aside, he still didn't know her too well. He couldn't help but be just a tad bit afraid of talking with her about Sasuke's curse mark. Though she seemed nice, many mothers were known for becoming very protective when their children were threatened.

He needn't have worried; Mikoto was a very rational woman. There was no question as to whether or not she was worried about her son; her uneasiness was written all over her face. No mother in her right mind is okay with a missing nin, who was arguably a pedophilliac, marking her child. Nonetheless, she kept her composure, and never once began to blame Kakashi himself.

The Uchiha matriarch let out a tired sigh at the information. "Damn that man." She gave Kakashi a weary smile. "I'm glad you're his Sensei. If there's anyone I trust my son with, aside from myself and Itachi, it's you."

Kakashi might have blushed a bit at the unexpected praise underneath his mask. No Uchiha, not even Itachi, gave out praise lightly. "Thank you, Uchiha-San."

"Please, Mikoto is fine," she waved away the formalities and took a sip of her coffee. She set down the mug of dark, brown liquid, and frowned. "Thank you for looking out for my son. He, ah, hasn't been the same since his father passed, as I'm sure you can imagine."

Yes, Kakashi very well could imagine.

"I know he's a bit shy and antisocial, but he's a good kid."

The white-haired alpha smiled, not that she could see. "I'm aware."

A minute or so of silence ensured. Mikoto looked content to gaze out her kitchen window, contemplating whatever was on her mind. Not that Kakashi minded; much to the jonin's surprise, the silence wasn't awkward. It was comfortable, for both parties were content to sit in silence.

Glancing back at Kakashi, Mikoto broke it with, "You mentioned the Uzumaki boy was hurt." While her tone seemed perfectly composed and the words nonchalant, the beta's eyes sparkled with a different emotion. Kakashi couldn't seem to put a name to it, but it certainly wasn't indifference.

It was strange. What interest would Mikoto have in Naruto? "Naruto wounded his throat quite seriously, but he's alive and well. He's currently unable to speak, but I'm confident he'll be able to regain the ability."

"Good. That poor kid has been through enough. He doesn't need a disability on top of…everything else." A slight frown returned to the woman's face. Was it just Kakashi, or did Mikoto look slightly guilty? "Is he taking care of himself well?"

"Well enough," Kakashi shrugged. "He didn't seem to be eating properly, so I moved him in with myself."

Mikoto smiled at him. It wasn't a fake or a cold superior smirk, like he'd seen on both her son and husband, but a warm, genuine and slightly grateful smile. "That's very kind of you. If he's ever in any trouble, let him know that the Uchiha are his friends."

Oh my. That was certainly interesting. Kakashi knew how big of a deal it was for a standing clan head (which Mikoto was until Sasuke came of age) to extend friendship and aide to a single person. Once again, the jonin wondered Mikoto's motives; was she vying to gain power by befriending the nine-tails Jinchuuriki? Or was it more along the lines of pitying her son's blond teammate?

Instead of promising to pass along the message Kakashi responded, "Let him know yourself."

The topic moved to Sasuke's training. Mikoto agreed to allow Kakashi to train him in private, as long as he was home for dinner. She didn't like the possibility of her son spending too much alone time. Itachi was also to chaperone the training, for there were still "too many Uchiha's who distrusted the 'thief' Hatake".

"But wouldn't that seem a bit suspicious?" Kakashi asked. "An unmated omega, alone with two alphas?"

The beta waved off his concerns. "Sasuke's his brother. Plus, even though he was stripped of his shinobi status, Itachi is more than capable of taking care of himself. Sure, no one talks about it anymore, but they still remember his reputation. Trust me," she gave him more of a leveled look, "there would be more outcry if Itachi didn't go with you than if he did."

…why did feel as though Mikoto was making fun of him?

-:-

Naruto was excited. He was finally, FINALLY getting out of the stupid hospital! He'd miss the final stage of the chunin exams, which he was a little bummed about, but it wasn't a huge deal. He wanted to be there and support Sasuke, but if he couldn't, then that was that. It wasn't as though the alpha really wanted him there anyway.

Jiraiya ended up releasing Orochimaru's five-fingered-seal on Naruto. After consulting with some medics, it would be best for Naruto to use the fox's chakra to heal what could be healed. That way, it wouldn't get infected and Naruto could eat and drink regularly again. By this point, there was only one known medic skilled enough to potentially bring back Naruto's voice. Her name was Senju Tsunade, and the last time she set foot in Konoha was fifteen years ago.

Jiraiya was confident they'd find her. He had "contacts" all over fire country and then some. The only person who had ever been a challenge for him to find was Orochimaru.

Naruto remained optimistic.

Before he left, the Old Man wanted to debrief them. After all, they weren't just begging this Tsunade lady to fix Naruto's vocal chords; the old man said it was also a precautionary measure. He didn't really specify, but Naruto didn't have to be a genius to know that if had something to do with Orochimaru.

Before they were dismissed, the Hokage asked to speak to Naruto alone. Jiraiya shrugged, and walked out of the office.

The old man regarded Naruto with a neutral expression. He leaned back in his chair and took a long drag on his pipe. All at once, the genin became painfully aware that it was the first time speaking to the Hokage while the old alpha knew his little secret.

After a minute, he sighed. "Naruto, you do realize it's illegal to lie about your sex."

He nodded. If he was in any sort of big trouble, he'd already know. The old man didn't put things off.

"I can see that you don't understand why omega aren't allowed to become shinobi."

Naruto's head snapped back up to regard the Hokage strangely. Everyone knew why omega couldn't be shinobi! They were too much of a risk, with their heats and everything. Only the man only laughed at his expression.

"It's only expected," he almost seemed to be talking to himself. "Most don't." Suddenly, he looked really tired. "You know, a few years ago, I was giving this same speech to another young omega shinobi who had masqueraded as a beta. He was an extraordinarily bright and capable young man. Even he, however, didn't know the truth. Despite his potential, he was still stripped of his status.

"That, my young omega, is how strict the law is."

The Hokage leveled the young blond with a serious stare. Said blond shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He figured he was just getting a strict warning to not tell ANYONE of his omega status. He couldn't have been more wrong. Hiruzen already knew the boy could keep his mouth shut; the past two years simply proved that. What he was about to tell Naruto was information he thought the blond deserved to know. Kami knew he probably already despised alphas.

"Omega aren't less capable than alphas. They can be strategic thinkers, planners, and analysts. Though they may be build smaller, omegas, especially the males, have the potential to have just as much physical prowess as any alpha or beta. It's true that their heat can be debilitating, but if one wished to use that argument, he would also have to take into consideration how debilitating an alpha's rut can be. In addition, I am of the opinion that, were it not outlawed, medical researchers could very well find a safe drug that could suppress an omega's heat and scent.

"All this only begs the question, why are omegas in Konoha, and in most other countries, banned from becoming shinobi?"

Naruto's lips were ever so slightly parted. His eyes were wide with near disbelief as he stared at his commander. He caught himself and mouthed the question, 'Why?'

Hiruzen lowered his pipe and set it on his desk. "Why? There's a couple different reasons. Part of it is was due to the pressures of sexist alphas. Way back, before the formation of the hidden villages and the Daimyo had ultimate control, omegas were, and still vastly are, considered to be nothing more than mothers and homemakers. An omega's place was to be subservient to his or her alpha."

Before Naruto could stand and throw a fit about how he "knew it", the old man continued, "That's PART of it. There are three major parts. The second part, well, was a bit more political. As you may or may not know, there are nine different Jinchuuriki, one for each of the tailed beasts."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up. No, he did not know that.

"It used to be believed that only omega were capable of containing a tailed beast. Omegas are better at chakra control; their bodies and chakra coils are made strong and large enough to support and create the chakra of their children; and, their wills are incredibly strong and durable. Over time, this eventually led to the superstition that only an omega can be comparable with a tailed beast and bear the burden of imprisoning one.

"After the formation of the hidden villages, the Jinchuuriki were divided among them so one couldn't threaten another with the power. Still, this wasn't enough. To ensure that the Jinchuuriki wouldn't be used as weapons of mass destruction against another hidden village in times of war, a law was created among all villages in possession of Jinchuuriki that stated omega were forbidden from becoming shinobi. Of course, this rule collapsed on itself when it was discovered that alpha and beta both had the ability to become Jinchuuriki."

'Then why didn't they get rid of the rule altogether?' Naruto mouthed.

"That leads me to the third reason the law was created. This reason, as well as sexism, was the reason why the founders of the hidden agreed on that particular law to compromise on.

"War, as you should know from your history classes at the academy, is every shinobi's worst nightmare. Most Kage avoid it at all costs. Unfortunately, until we become a wiser species, war somewhere along the line is inevitable. How can it not when hatred still exists among nations built upon skilled, hardened killers?

"There have been periods of time in each hidden village where their shinobi population has been nearly wiped out, all thanks to war. During wartime itself, most of the shinobi are fighting on a war front, not here at home running interference. Who, then, is left to take care of the county?"

Naruto blinked. 'Civilians?'

"Well." Sarutobi blinked back, picked up his pipe, and took another drag. "I hadn't thought about that. You may have a point there…what I was going to say was, omegas."

'Omegas?'

"Omegas. Especially the omega of ninja families. Omegas are known for their durability and incredibly strong wills. They are nurturers, and don't give up easily on what they care about. Each time Konoha has been devastated from way, it has been the omegas who've done much of the rebuilding in moral and, well, population."

Naruto made a face at that.

Sarutobi smiled. "Think of it this way; the law was designed to appease the traditional thinkers, and to create a fail safe plan in times of war and devastation. Because of that, it was initially used as the means to control the other villages Jinchuuriki. In the end, it's nothing but proof of humanity's imperfection. As long as laws that discriminate still exist, we will never be equal. Therefore, true peace can never be achieved. At the same time, this law was created in the hopes to create peace."

At the omega's lost look, the Hokage chuckled. "I suppose all you need to know is that us humans are hypocritical beings. I believe one day omegas will be publicly allowed to become shinobi and stand beside the alphas and betas in the line of fire. As of now, our society isn't evolved enough to find a better solution, and there have been bigger fish to fry, so to speak."

Naruto shrugged and made a waving-like gesture with his arms that said, 'Whatever you say, old man.' In all honesty, the news was both a bit heartening and a bit disturbing to Naruto. But he didn't want to think about it, so he wouldn't.

The old man understood. He gave bid his quasi-grandson an amicable farewell and hoped it wouldn't be the last time he saw him.

Orochimaru was his responsibility. After so many years, his wayward student had finally shown himself. Sarutobi was sure he'd come back for the Uchiha boy he'd marked, and when he did, he'd be ready.

He won't make the same mistake he'd made last time.

-:-

Naruto knew Konoha would fall apart without him. He just knew it.

He had been gone for around two and a half weeks. Naruto had helped convince Tsunade to come back to Konoha by "mastering" the Rasengan in a week. That, and the perv had told her something about the old man and other stuff that Naruto didn't really pay attention to, like Konoha paying off her debts.

The old hag was mean, drank too much, and was in so much debt that if Konoha weren't as economically well off as it were at the moment, it wouldn't be able to pay it all off. Worse still, she was an alpha. Despite all that, Naruto liked her. She wasn't nearly as cold as she pretended to be, and she was a blond just like him.

(Naruto always felt as though other blonds were somehow kindred spirits—it's as though all the blonds in the world formed some unspoken bond that because they were a minority, they had to stick together. It was why Ino, though she didn't like him anymore than Sakura, never made fun of him or ridiculed him. The rare blond old timers who'd also used him as a scapegoat, more often than not, refrained from treating him unkindly, all because they shared the same hair color. After all, it was a brunettes world).

They arrived back at Konoha on the day of the final stage of the chunin exams. Naruto was hoping he hadn't missed too much; apparently, he'd missed a lot. The exams had already commenced and unofficially ended. Suna had attacked.

Konohagakure hadn't been destroyed by any means. While there were some civilian and ninja calamities and a few completely wrecked buildings, the whole thing seemed to have happened relatively quickly.

From Kakashi, they found out that Suna had been mislead by Orochimaru, who had killed their Kazekage. Gaara, the Sand's Jinchuuriki of the one-tails, became overwhelmed by his bijuu during his fight with Sasuke. When he ran off, Sasuke pursued him.

Naruto begged Kakashi in that silent way of his to point him in the right direction; Kakashi still had to help protect the civilians, and Tsunade and Jiraiya wanted to aid their Sensei in his fight against their estranged teammate.

Kakashi relented and summoned his dog, Pakkun, to help track them down. Sakura, who hadn't feel for the genjutsu, told Naruto she would go with him to help Sasuke. They woke Shikamaru (who was never really asleep…), and told him he was coming (in which he just sighed and mumbled "Troublesome", but understood that his help was needed). Shino, who also hadn't fell for the genjutsu, appeared and told them he would also offer his assistance.

Without Naruto's voice, their mission was very silent. Pakkun gave them the occasional direction, but other than that, no one was really feeling chatty.

Naruto ended up being the one to confront Gaara, due to everyone else volunteering to hold off a different enemy. (Except Sakura; she just kind of stood there and looked anxious the whole time, until Gaara knocked her out).

If Naruto were to be completely honest, he was feeling really sorry for Gaara at that moment. He looked like his demon was…oozing out of him. From the little he's learned about seals from Jiraiya, he knew something had to have been seriously wrong with Gaara's. The way the demon was manifesting itself just wasn't normal.

As Naruto fought Gaara (which was more like Gaara swatting around Naruto and his clones as if they were nothing more than annoying flies), reddish orange chakra began to surround him.

Gaara went on and on about moms and love, existence and monsters, killing and blood; it was starting to get really annoying to Naruto. Sure, the other boy was just like himself. His speech scared him a bit because it hit so close to home. But Naruto was protecting his friends. He made the mistake of letting Orochimaru get to him during their fight with his words, and it nearly cost him not only his own life, but Sasuke's as well. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

When Gaara finally got a hold of Naruto with his sand, he found himself unable to crush the blond. The sand recoiled away from him as if it had been burnt. Inside his mind, his "mother" was screaming about her brother—it looked like the (now mute) omega from Konoha was a Jinchuuriki as well.

It was more than a little frustrating that Naruto couldn't respond whatsoever to Gaara. He still couldn't speak because Tsunade hadn't yet had a chance to perform the operation. It sucked, since screaming at his opponents helped him release his nervous and angry tension. It was also painful to listen to Gaara's sad story without being able to offer any words of encouragement or hope.

So, his anger and apprehension stewed within him, making the veil of the fox's chakra grow bigger and brighter until he sprouted a tail of chakra.

Then he sprouted two.

Which each tail, Gaara began having a harder time keeping up with him. "Mother" roared inside his head to crush the fox with the sand before she could feel the poisonous chakra; the problem was, while the sand was fast enough to defend him, he himself had to give the command for it to crush and maim his opponent.

And Gaara just wasn't fast enough.

For the first time, the red-headed Jinchuuriki feared that he could actually be defeated. Then his existence would be wiped out completely.

That scared him.

To make matters worse, his "mother" was still screaming in his mind, making him even more unstable. In an act of fear, anger and the influence of what "mother" started telling him to say, Gaara began to do something he normally never would have done.

 _'Get him unhinged,_ ' mother whispered to him, _'make him panic!_ _He's nothing but an omega, they don't deserve existence! YOU do! Tell him! Tell him, tell him, before it's too late! Threaten him! BLACKMAIL! ANYTHING! Don't let Kurama touch you!'  
_  
Gaara was never in his "right" mind. If he ever thought about it, which he didn't, he'd be pretty sure that he didn't have a "right" mind. That being said, if he were in his "normal" mind where he had more control of his frontal lobe and therefore could think a little more rationally, he would have noticed that something was wrong with what his mother was telling him. Never before had she said anything about second genders.

"Mother" wasn't in her right mind. She wasn't making sense. That didn't matter, though. Gaara didn't even have a right mind, so he couldn't begin to rationalize what she was telling him.

"You…" Gaara's voice was low and guttural. In a word, it was inhuman. "…omega. I know…you're secret."

Naruto glared at the alpha as his two tails of chakra lashed wildly.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the two. He wasn't stupid enough (at the moment) to try and insert himself in the fight—something was obviously up with Naruto. From what he was witnessing, the blond seemed more than capable of taking care of himself. Plus, he'd already used up all his chakra and was barely staying conscious as it was. He couldn't be of much help. ****

"Omegas…don't have the same rights…it doesn't matter if you have a demon too…I'm an alpha…and I will always win! You can't…hide…they'll all know…" There was too much noise. Gaara was having a hard time forming a sentence because of how much noise his mother was making.

Unfortunately for Gaara and Shukaku, this didn't seem to discourage Naruto at all. His grimace only became uglier, his demonic features sharper, the orange chakra hotter…and a third tail formed.

With a silent cry, Naruto charged forward and used his clawed fist to, quite literally, punch the ugly sand off Gaara's face.

With his last ounce of strength, Sasuke turned on his sharingan.

Naruto became a blur of movement, and proceeded to beat the sand out of Gaara. He was faster than Rock Lee had been, faster than Sasuke, and stronger than Gaara's ultimate defense.

It seemed to take hours of Naruto hitting him at incredible speeds, but eventually, his mother's cries grew so soft that they became nothing more than a dull buzz in the back of his head.

Gaara's sand fell away; his body grew too exhausted to channel his mother's hatred and power.

Naruto fell on the ground and, despite that Gaara hadn't gotten as many hits in, Naruto looked just as bad as Gaara. The Kyuubi's chakra had dissipated the moment Gaara's sand fell; his skin was so raw and red it looked as though it was close to burning off. He was also bleeding in various places.  
The omega collapsed on the ground; not even that stopped him. He began crawling toward Gaara using his shoulders and hips. The demonic features had gone away, but his expression was just as ferocious.

Gaara's heart pounded in his chest like it never had before. He hurt all over. His throat was dry. He couldn't move.

When Naruto finally got to Gaara, he used the last of his strength to lift his shaking hand and placed it on Gaara's chest. No, he couldn't speak, but, despite that he already stopped Gaara and his teammates were safe, he felt as though he needed to convey that he understood and acknowledged Gaara.

Gaara's eyes widened and met Naruto's. The omega's eyes softened as they did their darned best to tell Gaara everything he needed to know to survive without giving into the curse of his bijuu. Not once did he smile—he wouldn't lie to the alpha about it being easy.

Gaara didn't say anything. He didn't need to.

Still, he couldn't quite hold back the tiny blush that warmed his cheeks.

-:-

 **Guys, to be perfectly honest, I've had a very, very rough past week. I could really use some encouragement with this. Liiiiike...**

 **REVIEW PROMPT: What did you think of Sarutobi's explanation of why omegas aren't allowed to become shinobi? Any plot-holes you can find? Did anything not make sense?**

 **OR**

 **What's something you're good at?**

 **Please follow, favorite, and review! (Or subscribe, bookmark, kudos and comment).**

 **Like I said, it's been a bad week, so ANY COMMENT would be very much appreciated.**


	7. The Wayward Alpha

**Sorry it's been so long, but real life and illness got in the way. Thank you everyone who reviewed, followed and favorite! You guys are huge motivators, and the reason why this chapter is here!**

 **A guest named Lost in the Wind left a wonderful review, but left me a few questions I never got to answer, so I'll do it quickly here:**

 **What got me started in the anime world? A friend at a camp told me about Hetalia years ago. I get intrigued, and watched it. Then I discovered other anime, and the rest is history.**

 **What was my first thought? What the heck am I watching. What are they** ** _doing...?_**

 **Who's my favorite character? L from Death Note and maybe Shikamaru. I've been told that I have a "unique" and "complicated" personality, which it probably why there are so few characters I can relate to. These are two of the few.**

 **Thank you so much for your detailed review, and for asking me some stuff, Lost in the Wind!**

 **Here's chapter 6~**

Sasuke was under strict supervision.

After the events of the chunin exam, the other Uchiha acted wary of him, Itachi escorted him everywhere, and Mikoto personally made sure to keep him company at home. A day didn't go by where team seven didn't meet up to complete a D-rank.

Though both his mother and brother didn't actively treat him any differently, he could tell that there was a new-found apprehension in the way they interacted with him that wasn't there before. Mikoto often hesitated before she spoke or hugged him, and Itachi just always seemed to be paying really close attention to his moods. The rest of the Uchiha, however, were much more reserved in their interactions; no one went out of their way to say hello anymore, and everyone eyed him as though he was a ticking time bomb.

Objectively, he didn't blame them. His curse mark became common knowledge among the clan for "security reasons." Most of the time, he couldn't care less how the others treated him. If anything, it was a relief to finally be left alone instead of constantly being pestered by people he didn't want to deal with (he received enough of that from the beta girls at school), but he'd be lying if he said there weren't moments in which the mark took its toll on him, making him over-react in anger to a seemingly minor problem.

Recently, he'd been finding it harder and harder to quench his burning desire to discover just what exactly happened to his father, and over half of the Uchiha population that fateful night. It was more apparent than ever that something wasn't adding up. He felt as though he was the only one seeing the discrepancy – that he was surrounded by blind morons undeserving of the Uchiha name if they couldn't even spot the obvious. The only other thing he could think of was that there was something being kept from him by the entire clan, which wasn't exactly a better alternative.

Astonishingly, team seven continued to treat him the same. Unlike his mother and brother, Kakashi didn't treat him like a delicate panda-flower, Sakura still fawned over him, and Naruto remained ever the same hyperactive idiot who didn't know when to quit. A small, unaddressed part of the Uchiha was thankful for this. He didn't much like change, and team seven remained a constant that helped to keep him sane.

He'd be lying if he said didn't have any new-found intrigue when it came to his omega team-mate. His little display during his fight with Gaara was...definitely unexpected. He always knew Naruto had incredible stamina and chakra reserves, but the skills he demonstrated amidst the fight went beyond that. That was skill, hard work, and physically beyond the capabilities of any normal genin.

Sasuke had always known Naruto was just a bit different than the other students, but he'd always just brushed that off as Naruto's weirdness being inherently part of who Naruto was. He never much spared a second thought towards it. Naruto was a hyperactive moron who knew how to work hard. When Sasuke discovered Naruto's true sex as an omega, he had a fleeting thought that maybe it all had something to do with that. After all, as an alpha from a ninja clan who never went to a regular school, he'd never really interacted with omegas. However, he didn't linger on it, and quickly brushed it off as inconsequential.

After watching Naruto fight, he knew that there was something to the blond that went far beyond just being a quirky unique individual or an omega. Additionally, there was also the matter of the red chakra he saw emitting from Naruto that seemed to be an entirely different self-sustaining entity apart from the blond's own chakra.

It was extraordinarily hard to pique Sasuke's interest due to there being a disparity of things that truly interested him, but once it happened, there was nothing that could quench the young alpha's hunt for answers.

He began spending more time with Naruto. They walked home together, and Naruto, for some reason beyond Sasuke, began coming to the Uchiha compound every morning to walk to their team's meeting spot.

Mikoto and Itachi weren't only thrilled at the new development of Sasuke's apparent "friendship" (...when, exactly, did they become friends?) with one of his team-mates, but they actually liked Naruto. His mother especially. She beamed at the blond and offered him something to eat whenever he came for Sasuke (which was, when Sasuke thought about it, probably why he continued to come to the Uchiha compound in the mornings). She even got in the habit of packing him a bento for lunch and inviting him to dinner every so often.

He never bothered asking why Naruto agreed to walk home with him, or why he began coming in the mornings to "pick him up". The dobe would probably just get defensive, give an excuse that didn't even make sense, then refuse to elaborate, so he just accepted the new routine and discovered that Naruto's presence wasn't exactly an unwelcome one.

Naruto took his mind off the ever-present tension he felt at home and the constant need to discover what happened to the Uchiha that night. The blond had a reputation of being irritating to others, but to Sasuke, he was only ever naive and impulsive.

Naruto often prattled on about random things, like the intricate hidden networks of alleyways in Konoha that many shinobi didn't know about, and the strange, strange things he has found in them. It wasn't exactly Sasuke's topic of choice, but it was definitely more interesting than anything Sakura or Ino tried to talk about. He also liked to discuss potential training regimens and jutsus, and theorize what would or wouldn't work.

Sometimes the topic strayed from weird and disgusting random subjects and became...something else. Sasuke didn't know what these kinds of talks meant, but he was never one to go out of his way to change the direction of the conversation.

The first time one of these conversations occurred was while the two were walking home. Naruto was explaining one of his very first pranks, in which he added vinegar to a bottle of sake that belonged to someone "who was mean to him."

Once again, this piqued Sasuke's curiosity. He didn't know why he thought of it, but for some reason, he found himself thinking back to Naruto's fight with Gaara. For the first time, he prompted his new-found companion and asked, "Who was it?"

For a couple of weeks after Naruto's surgery with Tsunade, Naruto's voice began healing at an insanely rapid rate. After fourteen days, however, any progress ceased. It no longer pained Naruto to speak, but he had a permanent, gravely rasp that would never go away. It was sure a good think he had no aspirations or intentions of becoming a singer.

"Just the matron lady from the orphanage I grew up in." He made a disregarding hand motion. "She wasn't the nicest lady, but for some reason she especially hated me!" His pace slowed as his face screwed up into an ugly expression. "She liked to..." His mouth abruptly shut.

Sasuke regarded him curiously. "What?"

"Hmmmm...she was just another biased butt-face who thought I was stupid."

Again, the image of the red, orange chakra pulsating from inside Naruto's stomach and indulging him in an angry inferno flashed across Sasuke's eyes.

Once more, something wasn't adding up. He'd always assumed Naruto was disliked because of his careless pranks. Apparently, the dislike came before the pranking – it was beginning to look like Naruto acted out the way he did because of the villagers' hostility as opposed to the other way around.

"What did she have to be biased about?" There were only two possibilities: Naruto's nature, which was unlikely considering the blond had kept it a secret from the Hokage, and the monstrous chakra.

"Look at me!" Naruto waved his arms frantically. "Do I look like anyone in Konoha to you? No! Not even the other blonds! My parents were probably just some travelling foreigners who died the day of...well, you know. The lady must've known, and is probably just racist."

"Hn." It was true that Naruto had distinctive features, but also curious that he was allowed to become a Konoha shinobi if his parents were foreigners.

...Then again, he's an omega, and still somehow managed to become a shinobi.

"Did she know about your nature?"

The blond shuttered. "Oh no. Of course not! Heck, I didn't know until I was ten, and I, uh, well...presented." A violent blush bloomed in Naruto's cheeks and spread all the way down his neck and up into his ears.

"Hn. Dobe." Sasuke flicked the blond's said ear.

"Oi! Teme, what the heck was that-"

"There's nothing wrong with presenting." That shut him up. "Everyone, even betas, go through it. It's perfectly natural."

For a moment, the blond's face dropped its default ugly expression and smoothed into one of mild surprise. It widened his eyes and made his face appear much softer, even with the strange birthmarks on his cheeks. Naruto wasn't as bad to look at when he did that.

As per usual, it didn't last long. After picking up his pace, he pouted, and stubbornly looked away from his companion. "Well yeah, but it doesn't make it any less embarrassing. Life would be so much easier if everyone were just...betas or something, I don't know."

"Maybe," Sasuke responded. He personally didn't see a point in wondering what the world would be like if it was different. It was the way it was, no use thinking otherwise.

The discussion ended there, for they had arrived at the Uchiha compound. As per usual, Mikoto and the blond greeted one another with enthusiastic grins. Naruto ended up staying for dinner, but the two team-mates never resumed their talk of prejudice and second natures.

Over the next couple of months, the time Sasuke spend with Naruto and training gradually became more and more of an escape from the rising politics amongst the Uchiha.

Every night, clan elders came over to their house to complain about the dangers of Sasuke's curse mark. Mikoto could usually mollify the worst of their fears, but that night in particular, the Uchiha could not be placated.

"We need to do something about this. Since Orochimaru gave him the curse mark, he's been either angry or completely apathetic! You all know as well as I that the curse mark poisons its victim with hatred if the victim is left alone." That was Saomi-sama, an elderly beta woman on the Uchiha council. She'd always been a very cautious woman.

"He's been getting better. We've made sure he's constantly with a friend or loved one, and he hasn't been allowed on anything higher than a D-rank." His mother was defending him, once more.

Sasuke had always been apathetic, ever since his father died. That he could agree with. He disagreed with the "angry" part, but, well, he also didn't blame them for interpreting his behavior that way. He hadn't been exactly subtle about his quest to know what happened to the Uchiha that night, because he wanted someone to honestly tell him the truth. And lately, it was questions pertaining to that "incident" that unnerved the other Uchiha more than ever.

It was only natural that it pissed him off a little bit. Years ago, he tried fishing for information, and he was regarded as nothing more that a poor, fatherless alpha trying to understand what went wrong. Now? They looked at him as a land mine just waiting to be stepped on.

They were nothing more than a clan full of weak, scared hypocrites. That was what made Sasuke angry.

"I know he's your youngest child and you want to see the best in him, Mikoto-san, but he's dangerous. Already, he's shown aggression in his hunt for information he shouldn't be privy to."

"Saomi-san is right." That was Saomi's younger brother, Daichi, the only omega on the council. "We're all fond of the boy, but his recent displays of anger and impatience are most concerning. He's being given too much leeway. It's time you learn how to control your son."

Sasuke's eye twitched from where he was eaves-dropping within his room. Team seven finished their mission unexpectedly early and he came in through his window (faster than using the front door), so they didn't know he was there. Sasomi and Daichi were always the most paranoid out of the bunch.

"Lighten up a bit, he's just a kid, regardless of what shinobi law states. In light of recent events, I'd be concerned if he were acting any differently. Besides, the few times I've managed to catch him lately, he's been with that blond kid on his team. You know – the kid. If anything, he looks happier than before."

Aghea. She was one of the only adult alphas left in the Uchiha clan after the incident. She was also the older sister of Fugaku, the one who was originally supposed to have been clan leader. Sasuke had never gotten the full story of what happened there – it had something to do with mating a non-Uchiha omega before she was "of-age". It was ironic that she was Fugaku's sister. She was nothing like the other alpha who was strict and rule-abiding. From what Sasuke's heard, she was a more unconventional, laid-back personality who didn't fancy being told what to do.

"Pardon my bluntness, but you can't help being biased, Aghea-san. He's your only alpha nephew, not to mention the future clan head. It's only natural that you'd favor him." Sasomi huffed.

"I'm not biased. If anything, being Fugu-face's kid would make me disfavor him, but that's not how I think. I'm always away on missions, so I'm not even close to him. What I do know is that he's a human being, and one of the family. Remember what happened last time the clan jumped to conclusions?"

There was an uncomfortably long silence. Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed. What were they talking about? What did Aghea mean? Did it have something to do with the incident?

The alpha woman snorted. "That's what I thought. The only difference between you and them is that you're cowards."

"Aghea, that's enough," Mikoto cut in. "All of you are overreacting. Sasuke's my child, and I'm the closest thing you have to a clan head right now. I'd appreciate it if you left my son's well-being to me."

Sasomi and Daichi grumbled forced "goodbyes". The only sound of Aghea's departure was a snort of laughter and the gentle shut of a door.

Before Sasuke could move from his position, the door swung open away from him, nearly causing him to fall. Mikoto stood in the doorway and eyed him with a familiar nonplussed expression. "Don't listen to the clan elders," she said simply, learning against the door frame. "They have reputation of being paranoid and quick to judge which, as much as I hate to admit it, isn't entirely unfounded."

Sasuke shrugged, not even pretending to have no idea what she was talking about.

She gave him a fond smile that seemed to be reserved for him and Itachi alone. "Come on and help me make dinner. Itachi won't be joining us, because he started his bi-annual heat again. He'll be locked away in his room until next week, so no more escorting until then."

He followed his mother in silence the short distance between his room and the kitchen.

The Uchiha main household was fairly modest in terms of decorating. However, it was fairly large and consisted of five bedrooms and three bathrooms. This was specifically built this way in order for the house to be divided according to nature. The master bed and bathrooms were secluded at the back of the house, the furthest away from the kitchen and living room. On the left of the house, relatively blocked away from prying eyes, were two bedrooms and one bathroom designed specifically for any possible beta children, and on the right were the bedrooms and the last bathroom intended for the alpha children. The heads of the clan weren't intended to have any omega children - if they happened to, the original intent was to allow them the choice of moving in with other omega family members, or have their own secluded house that would be properly insulated for their heats. Both Fugaku and Mikoto weren't too keen on having their first child raised by strangers, nor did Fugaku want anyone to know Itachi was an omega, so he put him on one of the alpha bedrooms. The alpha rooms had better sound-proof and scent-proof walls designed for potential ruts, but they also worked for an omega's heat. Ironically, Sasuke was in one of the beta bedrooms. Unlike many of the new houses and complexes being build in Konoha, the Uchiha compound remained as old as the city itself and maintained its traditional structure.

Their kitchen and living rooms were fairly simple designs that contained sleek, black and white furniture, light gray walls with red accents, and the Uchiha crest decoratively placed intermittently throughout. Since Fugaku passed away, Mikoto began taking more liberty with decorating, and pictures of Sasuke and Itachi were scattered tastefully along the walls and on the refrigerator, accompanied by older photos of Mikoto and what Sasuke assumed to be her former friends and team-mates. Mikoto also liked to burn incense and place flowers around the house.

There was one picture in particular that caught his attention. It was hung up in the hallways beside a picture of Itachi's graduation and team seven. It was his mother's old genin photo, which consisted of three kunoichi and one jonin who, like Kakashi, looked young but had grey hair.

It was curious that his mother was a part of a strictly female team, for those were incredibly rare. In fact, teams rarely strayed from the two-male-and-beta-one-female-and-alpha combination. (A famous exemption was the Sannin, who were all alphas on the same team). Mikoto also didn't have the default mildly-friendly expression on her face that she wore around most people. Rather, she wore a slightly irritated and haughty expression that wasn't unfamiliar to Sasuke in the least. It looked strange on his mom's face.

One of the other girls in the picture had familiar large eyes and a round face, with the brightest red hair he'd ever seen. She had one arm slung around the aggravated Mikoto and the other around the other girl who was a tad chubby with light brown hair and bore a timid smile. The redhead beamed at the camera with a smile that looked all too familiar...

Since his mom never mentioned them, he assumed that they had passed away and never asked about them. Even so, he never got over a feeling of deja-vu whenever he passed that picture and saw the red-headed girl.

As he helped his mother slice tomatoes and watch the cooking rice, Sasuke thought back to what she said about Itachi's heat – that it was still "bi-annual." For a few minutes he attempted to make eye contact with her, but it was fruitless. Lately, she seemed to enjoy playing a little game where she no longer responded to him unless he specifically asked her a question. She claimed it was an important social skill to have, because apparently others will not be able to guess what he wants to say as well as she can.

Normally, this made him let most things go but he honestly thought Itachi had returned to a healthy heat cycle of four heats per year. "Mom," he prompted, causing her to look up from her task of cutting green beans.

"Yes?"

"About Itachi..." he trailed off, not exactly knowing how to phrase his question, but Mikoto was ruthless, and refused to respond until he finished the question. "...I thought his heats were normal now?"

The beta woman sighed while using her knife to scrape the green beans off of the cutting board and into the stir-frying pan. They made a harsh sizzling sound upon contact with the hot iron. "He was getting better for a while. Last year, he had three complete heats that were significantly less painful than they were in previous years. But it's already been seven months since his last heat now, and...well..." She stopped a moment, adding some spice Sasuke didn't catch the name of into the stir-fry, "This morning when I went to give him some water and chocolate for later, he was wracked with pain he hasn't seemed to have experienced in years. The doctor had warned us of this, but it was easy to start hoping he would go back to normal when he'd been improving so much."

Sasuke retuned to his task of slicing tomatoes, but he did it much more slowly than before. "Is he...going to be okay?"

"If you define 'okay' as not being in danger of dying anytime soon, then yes, he'll be fine. I can't say otherwise."

The finished making their meal without anymore conversation. Once they got to the dinner table, Mikoto decided to indulge her son in her musings.

"You know, Fugaku wouldn't have insisted that Itachi become a ninja if he didn't want to be."

Sasuke's head shot strait up to look her in the eyes. "But I always thought..."

She shrugged, moving the vegetables around her plate with her chopsticks. "Most people did, still do, but even at four years old, before you were born, Itachi wanted to help people. And...he was so incredibly talented. A protégé in every sense of the word." Her hand stopped moving. "We hadn't yet scheduled an appointment to screen for Itachi's nature, so there was no way we would have known not to encourage him. Fugaku had already begun training him. When we finally did learn he was an omega, your father just... lost it. He absolutely adored his son, he couldn't imagine telling him that he wouldn't be allowed to be a ninja because of what he was.

"Though," she gave Sasuke a knowing smirk, "knowing Itachi, he would've just become a civilian doctor, not caring that he would never be able to fight but we didn't know that at the time. I guess you know the rest of the story, after that."

She grew quiet and continued to eat her meal, but Sasuke didn't stop staring at her. "Mom, why did you-"

"Because I just wanted you to know that it was never my intention to just sit by and let this happen to my son." She levelled him with a serious look. "I didn't sit back and let your father use Itachi for his talents, regardless of Itachi's own best interest. I honestly thought it would be good for him, and your father and I had agreed to clear it with the Hokage before it got too far. I thought maybe Itachi could be a trailblazer for all future omega, and he could change the way they were treated in Konoha.

"But Itachi excelled quickly. Much more quickly than anyone had anticipated. He flew through the ranks of genin, chunin, even jonin, and accepted the position of ANBU before he'd even had his first heat. I began to suspect that he wasn't quite as happy as a shinobi as he used to be, and I tried talking to Fugaku about pulling him out but he wouldn't hear any of it. By that point, Itachi was such a well established shinobi participating in S-ranked missions that revealing his nature would have turned into a major law suit.

"With what was going on...well, it just wouldn't have been good.

"I never knew Itachi had started taking the suppressants. I used to have a close omega friend, so I knew how dangerous they could be if you didn't know how and when to take them. Fugaku didn't understand the risks – he thought I was being paranoid – so he gave them to Itachi behind my back.

"Itachi believed himself to be non-expendable to both Konoha and the Uchiha, so he participated in the lie. I never caught on because I was too concerned with making sure Fugaku didn't start physically abusing you. He wasn't... he wasn't doing too well at that period in time.

"I never knew until that night he collapsed and ended up in the hospital and when that happened, I became so fixated on helping your brother heal that I didn't notice the way Fugaku had began completely isolating you from even other Uchiha and your classmates by feeding you lies..." She trailed off.

Sasuke silently set down his chopsticks. His lips were turned downwards in a perturbed frown, and his eyebrows were drawn tightly together. "Why are you telling me this?" His voice was soft.

Mikoto looked him in the eyes. "It's time that the Uchiha learn to communicate. My shortcoming as a mother - and a person – is focusing my undivided attention on only one thing at a time. My sons suffered for that and, believe it or not Sasuke, I see a lot of myself in you. Don't fall into the same trap and become blindsided."

The Uchiha matriarch reached over in a fruitless attempt to smooth of her son's cowlick. It was a familiar gesture that never worked, but was comforting (if annoying) nonetheless.

-:-

Naruto didn't come to get Sasuke the next morning.

After routinely walking together to practice every morning, it made Sasuke a little concerned.

Itachi was out due to his heat, Mikoto was still asleep (she had a policy of sleeping in on Tuesdays and Thursdays) so for the first time in three months, Sasuke found himself walking to his team meeting alone.

Low and behold, Sakura and, inexplicitly, Kakashi were already there waiting for him. Sasuke showed the briefest of hesitations before walking up to meet his jonin-sensei, who was once again reading his orange book. But no orange jumpsuit anywhere in sight.

"Good morning, Sasuke," the man greeted, not sparing him a glance. Sakura, who'd been significantly less annoying as of late, straitened up upon Kakashi's greeting, turned, and gave him a cheerful wave.

He gave the both of them a nod in acknowledgement before sitting down beside Sakura on a rock.

"Uh, Sasuke," the beta looked around, "Where's Naruto? Don't you usually walk together now?"

Sasuke shrugged and looked away from her, feigning nonchalance.

Kakashi put away his book. The day was getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

"Naruto's indisposed right now. In fact, he'll be indisposed for the next week. Until then, it's just us."

The younger alpha's eyebrow twitched. He was about to ask what his sensei meant by "indisposed", but the realization beat him to it. He snapped his barely-opened-mouth shut and felt the presence of heat rise to his face.

It seemed as though Sakura caught on the same time Sasuke did, for she was staring at their sensei with wide eyes and a face a couple shades darker than her hair. "Uh...um, Kakashi-sensei, shouldn't you be a bit more-"

"I see no reason for it," he cut her off. "I know you both know about Naruto's secret; even if you didn't, you two were sure to find out soon enough. And now you know I know."

Naruto was in heat? Sasuke thought he was on suppressants and couldn't have a heat while taking them. That meant...

"Naruto stopped the suppressants?" He asked.

"What?" Sakura said, turning to look at Sasuke in surprise. "Suppressants?"

But the two alphas ignored her. "Yes, due to the health risks. He was given a safe substitute that blocks his scent, but nothing else, unfortunately."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura's tone was stronger and demanded attention. "I've been meaning to ask...how come Naruto is still a ninja if you and Hokage-sama knows?"

The alpha jonin sent her a masked smile that made his eye curve into the shape of a crescent. Somehow, the man made it look sarcastic. "Ask him yourself."

"But I-"

The jonin cut her off and began to debrief them about their new D-rank, which had something to do about a septic tank. Oh joy.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Sasuke took a glance at Sakura. She was avoiding eye contact with either of them and worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth. She still hadn't found the "right time" to ask Naruto about his nature or tell him that she's aware, opting to just ignore it.

It seemed like a bad idea to Sasuke.

After their D-rank and extra training (that Kakashi deemed necessary ever since their defeat at the chunin exams), Sasuke walked home smelling a little too much like human excrement (and whatever else ends up being flushed down the toilet of the red-light district, which he really didn't want to think about) to be comfortable. He was alone for the first time in approximately three months. Ideally, it would have been a good time to think and reflect on Naruto's secret cancerous chakra, and the Uchiha mystery surrounding the incident, but he smelled just too much like crap and bodily fluids to be able to think about anything aside from his impending shower.

That, and he got ambushed by Orochimaru's henchmen.

There were four of them (one girl, four guys), none looking too impressive (just freaky), but if they worked with Orochimaru, he knew they had to be skilled. Something gave Sasuke the impression that Orochimaru didn't like to waste his time.

They told him they were the Sound Four (so original), and gave him an offer. The gist of it was that Orochimaru could give him power and influence; he could train him to be better than Konoha could ever make him, and then some.

Sure, power was always tempting. It was very appealing to someone like Sasuke who cared about little more than excelling as a ninja.

But being given such an ultimatum – leaving his ninja village for another with deserters to become stronger – made Sasuke pause to think about whyhe was a ninja in the first place. Normally he wasn't so reflective on his decisions and preferred to regard everything in a simple black and white manner, but what his mother told him about not being blinded seemed to have stuck with him.

His name was Uchiha Sasuke, and he initially became a shinobi because of his name, Uchiha, and his alpha status. It was expected of him and it was what all Uchiha did. The Uchiha made up what used to be the military police, created specifically to protect the villagers of Konoha and maintain peace and order. He was the heir of his clan. He planned to re-establish the military police, restore the honor of the Uchiha clan, and figure out what happened the night of the incident. That's why he was a shinobi, or at least, that's what his reasons became. That just couldn't happen if he became a missing-nin.

Besides, Orochimaru was what Naruto would call a "creep." There was a loose screw with the guy, and Sasuke couldn't see any pure reason such a nin would go so far out of his way to recruit Sasuke as his protégé. Shinobi like Orochimaru don't care about helping out anyone other than themselves.

And with that, Sasuke gave the four an unblinking stare and said, "No."

They were unfazed. "You don't have to give us an answer now," the blue guy with what seemed to be a second head said. "We'll give you a week to think about it. In the mean time, I want you to consider something. You remember the day nearly every alpha of the Uchiha clan and the entire military police were mysteriously murdered?"

The only noticeable change in Sasuke was the stiffening of his stance and a twitch of his right eyebrow. 'How do they know that?' He thought. "Yes."

The four of them shared a smug look. They knew something. They weren't even from Konoha, and they knew something he didn't.

"Let's just say," the blue guy smiled at him, "that Konoha isn't as virtuous as it seems. It's a village full of hypocrites and liars who would do anything in their own interest.

"Be careful whom you trust."

They left.

-:-

Itachi's heat passed, and he was currently in the process of recovering. Meaning he would be confined to his bed for two days wanting nothing more than to hug the living day-lights out of Sasuke, eating bland food, all while being in excruciating pain.

Sasuke had two days to make a decision.

To say the young Uchiha was conflicted was an understatement, and an inaccurate one at that. A loud, belligerent, emotional part of him was screaming what the Sound Four had suggested to him over and over again – it was rationalizing that there could be a lot of truth to what they said, especially given that the Uchiha, his own mother and brother, avoided all his inquiries. They gave him pathetic excuses that may have shut him up when he was seven, but were no longer good enough for him.

Mikoto told him that they Uchiha were attacked, but if that were the case, wouldn't there be more omegas and betas that perished? Wouldn't the ones unable to defend themselves be the first to die? But it there were only one or two omega casualties, the rest being primarily alpha and beta. In fact, most all of the alphas, his aunt Aghea being a special exception, had been killed. That included nearly every member of the military police, the best the Uchiha had to offer. So it didn't make sense that they were the ones to have been killed from a mere attack. It had to be coordinated, intentional, and deliberate.

Carefully planned, targeting the alphas and military police specifically.

The Sound Four insinuated that the village itself had something to do with the planned attack on the Uchiha. Itachi and Mikoto, along with the entire older generation, acted as though they also knew what had happened that day.

If that were true, that meant that they were somehow in on it; that they knew Konoha wronged the Uchiha, yet did nothing about it. They just watched and let it happen.

Yet a different part of him, a smaller and more logical part, rationalized that the Sound Four could be lying to him. Orochimaru was a deserter who wanted Sasuke for some reason he hadn't yet deducted. The sound four were his henchmen doing his dirty work and trying to convince Sasuke to go with them to Orochimaru.

The mark, which hadn't bothered him much since it was sealed, had began to give him considerable pain. He couldn't allow anyone to catch on or they would be tipped off, so he clenched his jaw and bore the pain.

There was only one thing Sasuke was certain about – that the Uchiha had been lying to him. If they weren't being outright dishonest, then they were lying by omission. Why, he didn't know. He'd always know that Itachi tried to shield him and protect him. He hoped that was why everyone around him kept mum. Sasuke had a hard time believing anything but that. There was no way his own brother and mother could betray his family like that...he refused to believe that.

He had to figure out what happened himself, and that meant some doing some digging. Because he only had several days left, he didn't have long before he had to give the Sound Four an answer to their ultimatum, so he had to be quick. If Konoha and the Uchiha, for some reason beyond him, had worked together to eradicate the alphas and military police of the Uchiha clan, that meant he had to look into the village's secret mission files, something he knew he'd get caught doing.

There was only one person he knew of to have successfully stolen a file or scroll of the Hokage's who just might help him out.

-:-

One good thing about Kakashi was that he had a bad habit of leaving all his doors unlocked and a couple of windows cracked open. And he was nearly never home. It made sneaking into his apartment significantly easier. Then again, it was stupid to sneak into any jonin-S-ranked-former-ANBU-almost-legendary-status-ninja's apartment no matter how easy they made it look, but Sasuke figured his sensei would cut him some slack if he found out.

For once, Kakashi locked his doors. He walked around the house to find the windows all shut tightly as well.

The small Uchiha frowned. He couldn't imagine why Kakashi would remember to lock his doors, unless Naruto was still in heat.

'But he's not,' Sasuke thought, 'his heat should have ended yesterday. Maybe Kakashi got into the habit of locking his doors?'

He walked around the side to where he knew Naruto's room to be (the back-side of the apartment complex), scaled up the side of the building, and lightly knocked on Naruto's window.

A crash sounded from within, not phasing Sasuke in the least. He had stabilized himself by kneeling down next to the window (vertically, of course—after all, he'd walked up the side of the building using the tree-climbing technique) and using his left hand to help balance himself against the window frame.

After a few minutes of hearing miscellaneous sounds, some of which Sasuke wondered at such as the frog croaks, Sasuke finally heard the light thuds of Naruto's footsteps become louder as he approached the window. Abruptly, the blinds hiding the room from the Uchiha's view reeled upwards. Despite there thankfully being a panel of glass separated the two boys from each other, Sasuke found himself a little too close to his dishevelled blond team-mate for comfort.

Naruto made an expression that could only be described as indignant. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but Sasuke interrupted him by tapping on the glass and mouthing, "Open up."

Reluctantly, the other boy frowned and slowly opened his window. The raven quickly pushed himself into the room, shutting the window and the blinds behind him.

"Sasuke!" Naruto scolded him in a not very quiet whisper, "What are you doing here?! Didn't Kakashi tell you and Sakura that I'm…uh, out this week? You need to leave!"

"I knew you'd be done by now," Sasuke was as blunt as ever, which caused his team-mate to blush. "I needed to ask you something."

"Can't it wait?" He whined.

The young alpha shook his head. "No. I—" He stopped. Finally, the scent wafting around the room hit him. Blood rushed to his face in a shameful blush. The scent, which reminded Sasuke of an ocean breeze, cleaner and fresher than what Wave smelled like, and orange blossoms, was the best thing Sasuke had ever smelled. It made him feel a little dizzy, and strange in another way he'd never experienced before. It was just his face that felt hot; heat pooled in the pit of his stomach, making him feel slightly feverish without actually feeling sick.

All at once, Sasuke felt incredibly stupid. Though Naruto's actual heat was over, he was still releasing the post-heat pheromones, and his room was drenched with them. The only other omegas pheromone's Sasuke had such a strong whiff of was his brother. Because they were related, they didn't make Sasuke react at all the way Naruto's apparently did. He hadn't thought of that.

"Uh, Teme," Naruto broke him out of his trance. The poor blond's entire face was aflame, all the way down his neck and up to his ears. "If it's really that important, can we at least go to another room?"

He nodded a bit too eagerly, and followed the other boy out into what was the apartment's small living room. It was right beside the kitchen area with nothing more than a sofa facing a window, two end tables with potted plants on each one (courtesy of Naruto, no doubt), and a coffee table in front on the sofa. Books and manga covering the table in neat stacks. Surprisingly, there were no icha-icha novels among the stacks.

"So teme," Naruto unceremoniously dumped himself onto one of the sofa's cushions, snagged one of the manga issues from the stacks and used it to help hide his still-red face, "you said you needed to talk about something that just couldn't wait?"

He was irritated, but understandably so. Sasuke wisely remained standing a good distance away from his team-mate. "Yes. I need to sneak into the village's top secret files."

The blond's small form visibly stilled. Slowly, he lowered the issue in his hands down to reveal his brilliant blue eyes wide in shock. "Uh…whaa?"

"I'm not repeating myself."

"Hold on!" He dropped the issue. There was no longer any traces of red on his face, for his previous moment of embarrassment was already long forgotten. "You wanna…why?"

"Keep your voice down, or someone will hear you." Maybe it wasn't a good idea to tell Naruto after all. "I can't tell you why yet," he emphasized the "yet" upon Naruto's disgruntled looked of protest. "The information I need is clan business. As the future head of the Uchiha clan, I am entitled to it."

Naruto stilled looked horribly confused and a bit put out. "I'm still not sure why you want to steal any information from the Hokage's personal files, or why the Hokage would even have a file about your clan stuff. It makes no sense to me."

Sasuke shot the blond a slightly severe expression. "It shouldn't."

Putting up his hands in mock-surrender Naruto responded, "Okay, okay, jeez. So whatever this is has obviously gotten you even more constipated than usual. So if you're not going to tell me what you want to steal or why you 'need,'" he used finger quotes, "to steal it, why are you even telling me that you're going to do it?"

This, Sasuke was a bit more reluctant to elaborate on. Nonetheless, he had to just spit it out. He knew the only way to get Naruto's assistance was to say: "I need your help."

An impish gleam Sasuke was beginning to know very well appeared in the blond's eyes. "Weeeeeeellllllll," he drew out the word while puffing out his chest. "I am pretty good at this kind of stuff…heheh….wait a minute!" He sprung to his feet, nearly knocking the table over. "Why should I help you?! You're not even telling me why you want to steal from the Hokage!"

"I said I'd tell you later," Sasuke grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Unless you tell me now, I'm not helping you."

Sasuke considered his options. Naruto was pretty darn loyal to the Hokage, but Sasuke knew from past experience that Naruto also wasn't above committing technically illegal acts for the purpose of a benign prank, or some other harmless misdemeanor. That being said, he was fairly sure he would be able to convince Naruto to assist him by saying that he meant no harm. It looked like Naruto didn't quite have that much faith in him yet, understandably.

If Sasuke were doing this just a few months prior, he wouldn't have even thought of enlisting the blond's help. The mere fact that he was humbling himself to do so for personal reasons was testament to how much he had begun to trust the blond.

He didn't quite know how he felt about that.

He would prefer to keep everything to himself. He didn't want anyone to know yet about the Sound Four's offer. Sasuke knew enough about Naruto by that point to know that he had a very strong sense of justice—telling him his reasons could either go very right or very wrong. The young alpha wasn't one to take leaps of faith, but he found that some part of him wanted to tell Naruto. Now, more than ever, it was apparent the other boy had secrets of his own that went beyond his omega nature.

Despite his simplistic disposition, Naruto didn't see the world in black and white. Some part of Sasuke had known that all along, but after everything he had discovered about Naruto during their time together on team 7, he now knew it to be true.

He could only have faith in the fact that his own motivations were just, and that Naruto would understand.

Taking a deep breath Sasuke began, "Do you remember the Uchiha massacre?"

-:-

Breaking into the Hokage's private quarters was easier than Sasuke thought it would be. It probably would have been significantly more difficult for Sasuke to do on his own. If there was one thing his blond team-mate could do right, it was doing things he shouldn't be and poking around where he wasn't supposed to, but Naruto knew a lot of secret passages in Konoha, so Sasuke didn't quite understand why Naruto was insistent on using the ventilation system.

"Dobe," he had hissed, "That makes far too much noise, it's clichéd, and we don't even fit! It's too small!"

"Exactly! They'll never see it coming!"

"I'm not sure that's how it works."

"And besides, we're not going to sneak in. Gamakichi is!"

"…who?"

Which is how the two genin ninja found themselves arguing with a toad the size of a small soccer ball at 1 a.m, just meters away from the Hokage's private quarters.

"Pleeeeaaaaaaaase," Naruto begged. They were hiding from within a bush.

The toad shook his head. "Naruto, if you had a good reason, I'd be all for it, but you're not telling me why. This is technically treason, and as your summons, I think you should think this through a bit more."

The blond groaned a bit too audibly, so Sasuke had to remind him to keep his voice down. "Look," his gaze darted to Sasuke's for half a second as if asking silent permission, then flit back to the toad's, "We think Konoha may have had something to do with the Uchiha, uh, incident. We're not planning to do anything bad with the information you might find other than confront someone about it. That's all. No plans against the Hokage or the village."

After a few seconds of a pregnant silence, the young toad sighed. "I hope that's all. You owe me some files for this! And if someone finds me, I'm vanishing!"

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto explained to the toad where to go and where he should look before the toad scrambled off through the ventilation system.

The bush Naruto and he were in was very small; in order for the two of them to fit, they had to be pressed up against each other side-by-side. Once the toad left, Sasuke became a little overly aware of Naruto's arm, leg, and hips, all pressing up against Sasuke's, and the tickle of blond hair under his nose.

It was uncomfortable and downright unpleasant to be that close to the blond.

(…maybe simply uncomfortable.)

While Sasuke had opened up to his friend about what happened that night, how everyone lied to him and his suspicions of Konoha, he hadn't mentioned anything about Orochimaru or the Sound Four. He knew if he had told Naruto about them and their proposition, he would have put one-and-one together and realize that Sasuke was considering leaving if Konoha turned out guilty of a conspiracy.

Once Naruto heard the alpha's reasonings for wanting to "borrow" information from the Hokage, he had been hesitant to believe that Konoha could do anything so horrific. Sasuke had to wheedle him a little bit and say maybe it wasn't the Hokage but someone else in Konoha and that he wasn't even sure Konoha did anything which was why he was looking, Naruto readily agreed to help him out.

"If Konoha did do something to to contribute to murdering it's own citizens," Naruto reasoned with himself, "then it should come to light. People can't get away with that…it's just wrong. But I really don't think so."

Sasuke didn't feel guilty about not telling Naruto about Orochimaru and the Sound Four's deal; that was a choice for he alone to make, and he didn't feel the need to involve anyone else.

The two sat in silence for a while, before Naruto instigated a came of tick-tack-toe. The blond had gotten much better at being quiet when needed since Orochimaru nearly lopped his head off, but his hyperactivity didn't change.

It took several hours for the toad to come back with the files they needed, and during that time the two boys entertained themselves with various silent games, like hand charades. When they couldn't think of anything, Naruto just started braiding Sasuke's hair. ("We never speak of this again." "Admit it, you like your hair being braided!") How the guy who'd always had short hair knew how to braid, Sasuke didn't want to know.

It was around 3 a.m when the toad finally brought them the files. He had searched as thoroughly and as quickly as he could, actually having to go to multiple rooms to find anything.

"It wasn't with the Hokage's files like you said it would be," the toad noted, "but I thought I'd bring it anyways since it looked like what you two were asking for."

For a moment, Sasuke couldn't believe what he was seeing—it's true that he was the one to suspect Konoha and actually go through with finding any evidence for his suspicious, but part of him couldn't believe Konoha, a village, could conspire against it's arguably strongest family. It didn't make sense.

"Sasuke, what are you waiting for?" Naruto whispered to him, "Read it before we get caught!"

He snapped out of whatever trance he was in, opened, and began to read. What he found made him physically sick to his stomach.

It went back to the nine-tails attack. Apparently, it wasn't just a random rampage. (When Sasuke thought that one over, he wondered how many other things Konoha lied to them about that they blindly accepted. Because honestly, how could have Sasuke ever accepted the simple explanation of "it was rampaging"? Why hadn't he or anyone else thought to ask where it came from, or why it was even in Konoha in the first place?) Before the Fourth died, he had relayed that there was a masked man controlling the Kyuubi, someone with the Sharingan dojutsu. That immediately made the entire Uchiha clan prime suspects. Konoha had plans to keep them under strict scrutiny, and conduct an investigation.

Fugaku, along with the rest of the clan who knew about the Hokage's suspicions, were greatly offended. He refused for his family to be treated like criminals, and they started planning a coup against the Hokage. (That was pretty hard for Sasuke to believe).

The information was relayed to the Hokage by Itachi, who was playing as a double agent.

Sasuke squinted at the file. There was something off. He flipped through the pages when he realized what was wrong; this wasn't one of the Hokage's files. It belonged specifically to the ANBU. He filed away that information for later, and continued reading.

"Sasuke, hurry up," Naruto urged, "Gamakichi still has to put it back before someone finds out it's gone!"

He activated his sharingan and read faster. They found out Itachi was an omega which ruined those plans (something wasn't adding up; why would the Hokage have stripped Itachi of his shinobi status if he already knew about these plans and was commanded to kill his own family? Why would the Hokage even ruin his own plans?), then they commanded a team of ANBU in correspondence with Mikoto (?!) to ambush the Uchiha compound and kill everyone involved with the coup.

The one's who weren't killed had already agreed to the plan (otherwise the rest of them would have been murdered along with them) and promised to keep the information from the children who didn't know. Since they no longer had Itachi to help and therefore didn't have the man-power to slaughter the entire clan, they made a deal with those who opposed the coup.

After half the clan was gone, it was much easier to conduct an investigation of the Uchiha and the nine-tailed-incident, and they found all of them to be innocent.

Sasuke snapped the file closed and handed it to the toad. "Put it back. I've read all I need to know." If anything, Sasuke was ever more confused. Nothing added up. It didn't make any sense. If the so called investigation wasn't all that bad, why had his father called for a coup? Why were they okay with getting rid of half the Uchiha? We they just getting rid of the "corrupt" parts so that they could still have the Sharingan? It was as if one half of the information had been left out, leaving nothing but empty proclamations, and he had a feeling that other half lied with whomever it was that controlled the nine-tails all those years ago.

Despite the inconsistencies, one thing was for certain; Konoha played a major part in the massacre of over half of his clan. And, apparently, his mom.

Sasuke needed to throw up.

"Hey, Sasuke-teme, what'd it say?"

But Sasuke just stood and said, "I need to go."

"Wait, Sasuke!"

They were far enough away from where Gamakichi got the file to not draw any attention or alert anyone who may be patrolling, so Sasuke didn't think twice about storming away.

The further Sasuke walked, the angrier he became. It was true that things didn't add up, but that soon became the last thing on Sasuke's mind as it began to hit him that his mother and Konoha had carefully planned to murder the Uchiha in cold blood.

How could the Hokage do that to his family? To him?! The Uchiha had never done anything wrong except serve Konoha! How dare anyone question their loyalty as a clan? His father had been just as dedicated to serving this village as any Hokage! Just because he opposed his privacy being violated because of the possibility that an Uchiha had controlled and commanded the nine-tails to attack the village that merited him and his family's execution?

If that was justice, if that was the law, and if that was Konoha, Sasuke wanted no part of it.

-:-

The next morning, Naruto was waiting for Sasuke in the kitchen. He was smiling as if nothing was wrong, chatting jovially with Mikoto. Like any other day, she was smiling right back and preparing bentos for the two boys. He was back to being dressed in his obnoxious orange jumpsuit, as opposed to the plain white tee-shit and black shorts he was wearing the day before.

It was a surreal feeling, to wake up after the previous night's revelation to a perfectly normal day. Sasuke felt like he was seeing everything from very far away, and that he was hearing everything from underwater.

"—suke, oi, SASUKE!"

The raven blinked. Naruto was no longer prattling off to his mother; instead, he was frowning at Sasuke in annoyance. "You sure took a long time getting up. Come on, we're going to be later than Kakashi-sensei if we don't go!"

Wordlessly, he grabbed his bento and walked out the front door, not bothering to wait for his team-mate. Distantly he heard Naruto apologizing for him, then running out the door to catch up to Sasuke.

The blond began to fill the silence with his typical nonsensical rambling. This time, Sasuke tuned the other boy out completely as he retreated into his own mind, not catching a single word the other boy said.

As team seven completed yet another D-rank, Sasuke could feel the eyes of Sakura grilling into him worriedly as Naruto did what he did best and talked to her about meaningless things. She hardly paid him any attention, as per usual, for she was so focused on Sasuke's unusual behavior.

Even Kakashi gave him a couple of curious glances, no doubt wondering what was making the antisocial Uchiha even more withdrawn than usual.

When they finished training and their daily D-rank, Sasuke had planned to take off and walk home by himself. But Naruto, as usual, seemed to have other plans. He quickly caught up to the young alpha, grabbed his wrist, and started marching in a different direction.

He half-heartedly struggled in the shorter boy's hold, but when Naruto only tightened his grip in response, Sasuke ceased the small resistance and let himself be led. "Dobe," it was the first word he'd spoken all day, "what are you doing?" His words were low and tired sounding.

But for once, the blond remained silent. Sasuke couldn't see what his expression was because he was facing away from him, but by the tension in his shoulder's, he figured he was a little pissed off.

'I hope he's not taking me somewhere to fight,' Sasuke thought irritably, 'I really don't feel like feeding his childish rivalry right now.'

They walked further and further, away from the village gate, away from the compound, away from the Hokage Tower, and away from all shinobi living complexes (including apartments, houses, and clan complexes). The majority of the buildings (or, more appropriately, shacks) became progressively dirtier, poorer, and a lot more seedy looking the further they walked.

"Seriously, Naruto," Sasuke ground out, "where are you taking me?"

"Shut up, Sasuke," the blond growled back without looking at him. "Just wait, we're almost there."

After a few more minutes, they came upon a smaller area with nicer, ritzy looking homes. There was notable landscaping with fountains and even a small private cherry-tree grove. Sasuke had never been this far from the heart of Konoha where all the ninja dwelled, so it took him a moment to realize he was looking at a rich civilians' home.

Naruto finally turned and looked at him with a uncharacteristically serious expression. He motioned to a nearby tree, and led Sasuke up it's trunk to hide in its branches. Daylight was almost completely gone, so anyone who didn't know they were there wouldn't be able to see them. A shinobi would be able to spot them instantly, but that hardly mattered, since Sasuke had a feeling there weren't many shinobi or kunoichi that came around these parts.

They sat there in the branches for several minutes, all the while Sasuke wondered at the subject of his team-mate's sanity. Suddenly, the front door slammed open. Out stormed a middle-aged man in a silky expensive looking yukata, dragging a naked woman out by her hair; she was a young omega, couldn't be older than sixteen, and the man was an alpha.

Behind them were three other beautiful omega woman and one omega male in silken kimonos and adorned with jewelry. They looked on the scene apprehensively, yet stayed in the doorway, not willing to risk the alpha's wrath.

"How dare you?!," he threw her down on the stone pathway, "How dare you smuggle in suppressants and deny me my right as your alpha?"

Sasuke felt his blood run cold. He didn't want to be there. He had an inkling about what was going to happen, and he didn't want to see it at all. Why had Naruto brought him to see this? What point was he trying to prove? He knew he should just sneak out now, but some morbid part of him commanded that he stay and watch. He was frozen to his spot.

"I-I'm so-s-sorry," the girl stuttered own before she kneeled over and coughed blood onto the pavement. She was trembling not only in fear, but in sickness. Sasuke could guess what had made her so ill.

The alpha only looked unsympathetically and with disgust. "Insolent omega," he kicked her in the stomach, prompting her groan and tremble even harder. She was no longer coughing, but blood was rapidly seeping out of her mouth and, well…her "downstairs."

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered, "I…I don't want…."

"You can bleed out for all I care, but don't do it on my property," the alpha growled. He turned briskly, and addressed the male omega, "Kunio, I'll have you tonight. I feel the sight of women making me rather irritable right now. Go to my room and start preparing yourself."

The omega bowed, turned and hurried off inside. The alpha made a vague notion to the girl on the ground and said to the other females, "Take care of her, and make sure she's gone by the morning. I don't care where she is, as long as it isn't here. And clean up all the damn blood, it's ruining my aesthetics."

"Come on," Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand, and they discreetly leapt out of the tree and off the property. It was only once they were completely out of that neighborhood that Naruto finally spoke.

"I don't know what you read. Gamakichi took the file and disappeared with it before I could see. But I do know one thing. There's a lot of screwed up crap that goes on in Konoha that the Hokage doesn't completely know about, or everyone kind of ignores because it's easier to pretend it's not there.

"Did you see what I just showed you? That that ugly alpha had like five omegas and treated them all like some sort of glorified sex toy than people?"

"Naruto…"

"Well did you?!"

Sasuke looked into the other's eyes angrily and hissed, "Obviously, you moron. You didn't exactly let me leave."

The blond glared, looking a bit feral. "That is just one of the many disgusting things that happen to omegas here, right under shinobi's noses. And if I never lied about what I am, if I wasn't so determined to become Hokage, that's where I would be right now!"

"You don't—"

"Let me finish! Each and every omega from my orphanage is sold to a flower house to be trained as a geisha, if they're pretty enough. If they aren't the flower house sells them on the black market where alphas like the one you just saw buy them and use them however they want, like you just saw. I've been looking for a friend of mine who was sold, so I've seen some pretty awful things like that."

"Then why?" Sasuke demanded. "If it's really as bad as you say and what you just showed me, why stay in Konoha where it happens?"

"Because I'm not selfish and I care about the people of Konoha. I care about the village, and I want to change it. A lot of the stuff that goes on here, like what I just showed you and whatever you read last night, it's not okay! And I want to change it by being Hokage!"

The blond fell silent and shot him an intense, angry look. "That's my dream, Sasuke. That's my purpose. Now figure out your own and stop pissing me off with your moody lack of any direction!"

He stormed away, and Sasuke didn't bother to stop him. Before heading home, he pondered the blond's last words. Was it really true, that Sasuke didn't have a direction he was working towards? He thought he did, but he was beginning to think he didn't. It used to be impressing his father. Now? Was it really restoring his family's former glory?

'What glory,' he thought to himself. 'If it's all true, that some unknown Uchiha controlled the nine-tails, that the military police, those sworn to protect the village and its citizens, and my father planned a coup, and that my own mother plotted against them with the village, when was the Uchiha ever glorious? What would I be restoring?'

It wasn't even really revenge. Revenge against whom, exactly? The village? His family? The nine-tails?

Was is power? Should he really take up Orochimaru's offer, and leave later that night with the Sound Four? He still didn't know exactly what the snake nin wanted with him, which was a red flag in that plan.

'But at least they told me the truth,' Sasuke reasoned to himself. 'They're the only ones so far that have.'

He walked home, thinking and considering his options. He only had a few more hours to decide.

-:-

In the dead of night, Sasuke looked out his window. His hand itched to open it, and his body to leap out and steal away into the night. The more he saw of Konoha, the more he felt trapped, and the more he wanted out.

But Naruto's words from earlier that night bounced around in his head.

His mind was made. Perhaps, now wasn't the best time to leave.


End file.
